A Hero's Welcome
by BloodTiers
Summary: Set directly after the finale of ME2, paragon fem Shepard and her crew find themselves facing the consequences of their actions in ways they did not expect. The team runs into complications as they head out for shore leave on Omega.
1. Space Worthy

"All primary systems functional and online. I believe that we will be able to return through the Omega 4 relay now, Shepard," said EDI, the virtual intelligence aboard the battered Normandy SR2.

"Thanks, EDI. What about those hull breaches down in the cargo hold? Is it safe to go through a relay with holes in the ship?"

"The emergency barriers are designed to withstand significantly more force than is produced by travel through a mass relay. The Normandy is fit to travel, Commander."

"Commander, did you just insult the VI? I didn't think it could be done," said Joker in mock surprise from his seat at the Normandy's cockpit.

"I am not offended, Jeff. I responded to the commander's safety inquiry with the information she requested."

"Can you blame me for not wanting to get sucked out of a hole at FTL speeds, EDI? I've been spaced once, I _really_ don't want to do that again," said Shepard.

"We get it, Commander. Setting approach vector for the Omega 4 relay now," said Joker, his hands busy on the monitors.

"All right, Joker. Take us back through. I've had enough of this system," said Shepard, giving a last wary look toward the Omega 4 relay. Why did it have to be red? Why couldn't it be a normal, calming blue like the rest of the galaxy's relays? The commander about-faced, leaving the cockpit to her favorite pair of co-pilots.

Shepard was mildly surprised by how fast the Normandy was able to be space worthy after an attack that would have crippled a lesser ship. Going up against the Collectors was considered a suicide mission by many people, and some of those people were on her crew. Luckily, the cargo bay got the worst of it, sustaining multiple hull breaches. Some of the Normandy's cargo was lost, including some rations and resources, but nothing that could not be replaced. The team had survived, if a little worse for wear. Shepard couldn't believe it, and the team definitely couldn't believe it. It was unwise to be optimistic before a mission like destroying the Collector base, but even at her most optimistic, Shepard would not have dared hope to bring her entire team out of it alive. She was pleasantly surprised.

The Normandy was nowhere near the biggest ship she had served on, but sometimes it seemed to Shepard that it took forever to get form one end of the ship to the other. As Shepard walked across the CIC, she began to feel tenderness in her muscles – all of them. A result of adrenaline surges and the physicality of combat. She was already visualizing the hot shower and and glass of Cabernet that she was planning to help herself to in her quarters. The ship's crew, steadfast as ever, were at their stations just hours after having been rescued from the Collectors. Yeoman Chambers had shared some of her experiences about her abduction with the commander, experiences that had sounded horrific to Shepard. Yet, there she was, typing away at her terminal. The commander knew that Kelly just wanted to make herself busy. Keeping her mind on her work would help her from dwelling on traumatic experiences, and Shepard understood the feeling. She knew she would be doing Kelly a disservice by dismissing her from her work. Shepard smiled at Kelly as she passed on her way to the elevator.

There would be ample time for a thorough debriefing with the entire crew later. It was Shepard's way to feel strange about taking time for herself, but she figured if she ever deserved some alone time, this was it. Doubtless, her crew were already decompressing in their own unique ways. She wondered to herself what those ways might be. Suddenly, she was extremely concerned for deck four – home to some of the most destructive members of her crew. Shepard had a vivid vision of Grunt and Jack laughing maniacally together and punching additional holes in the cargo hold. She shrugged it off and made it a point to head down to the engineering deck later.

In her cabin, Shepard removed her visor, placing it on the desk next to her private terminal. She considered flopping down onto her bed, but she knew she'd regret getting the white comforter dirty. Her armor was covered in soot and dirt. Most of the time the hardsuit felt like a second skin to Shepard, but at the moment it seemed more constricting than usual. She removed it gingerly, wincing once or twice as her stiff muscles resisted the movement. Dirt and debris loosened from her chest plate and gauntlets, falling to the previously clean carpet in tiny clumps. She could already hear mess sergeant Gardner chewing her out, and the thought of his tirade made her smile. Shepard inspected her armor. There were a few dings and scratches that weren't there before. Grunt would call them "battlescars" and tell her she should be proud. She was proud, but she wondered if she shouldn't start shopping for armor upgrades.

Looking in her bathroom mirror helped relieve some of the commander's worst fears; she was glad to see that she didn't look half as bad as she felt. There was a cut on her forehead that ran from her hairline to just past her left eyebrow. She remembered the hit. It was during one of the first skirmishes with the Collectors. Shrapnel had ricocheted from a blast that was too close for comfort. Facial cuts bleed a lot, which makes them inconvenient especially if they're near the eyes. It had stopped bleeding a while ago, but there was still a trail of dried blood from her eyebrow to the middle of her cheek, where it was smeared from having been wiped away. Her bottom lip was slightly swollen. Shepard knew from experience that it would be bruised for at least a week. She was not a delicate woman, and did not bruise easily. Apart from superficial injuries, her face and body were more or less in tact. Covered with soot and assorted alien remains, but in tact. Her red hair was snarled and matted. She hoped that a shower and a thorough conditioning would get it back to its normal bob shape.

Shepard tried to remember a more satisfying shower, and she wasn't sure if she could. She didn't care if she used up all the Normandy's hot water reserves, it was worth it. Thankfully, her hair did return to its normal shape. Her injuries looked far less dramatic after the blood and the dirt were cleaned off. She figured a trip to see Doctor Chakwas was in order eventually, but in the mean time she combed her hair away from her face and applied a small amount of medi-gel to her forehead. She walked over to her bed for that well-deserved flop.

Her head was swimming with memories from the fight. She remembered every wrong step she made, every time she let the enemy have the upper had when she could have prevented it. Sure, they came out victorious, but close calls like that could have cost her or her squad their lives. Shepard constantly thought about the people who had died under her command. They drove her to be better, faster and stronger. There wasn't a cycle that went by that she didn't think of gunnery chief Ashley Williams and the family she left behind. Shepard heard Ashley's voice every time she went into battle, forgiving her for her decision to rescue Lt. Kaidan Alenko and leave her behind on Virmire.

At the moment, however, the giant metal face of the human-reaper embryo was what haunted her thoughts. She had shot those glowing orange eyes right out of its head. She and her team had destroyed the Collectors' project which had cost hundreds of thousands of human lives. There was so much they didn't know about the reapers. Why were they building one to look like a human? Shepard was afraid to find out the answer to that question, but she knew it was important. Her team destroyed the reaper and then destroyed the whole Collector base contrary to the Illusive Man's wishes. He was less than pleased with Shepard at the moment, she knew that for a fact. She didn't think he would make a move against her, but she had been surprised by his actions before. He was notorious for placing her entire crew in dangerous situations that could have spelled their death. She didn't know if she could count on his regard of her as a "human icon" to keep him from trying to kill her, or at least from trying to stop her from defeating the reapers so that Cerberus could claim the glory.

Shepard rolled her eyes. She had almost believed that she and Cerberus were on the same side - or at least had similar goals. She should have known better. The Illusive Man believed he could use the reaper technology, but how many times had Shepard shut down Cerberus operations gone wrong? She felt confident that she made the right decision. The approval of her crew helped. Even Miranda had supported her decision to destroy the Collector base. Even so, Shepard couldn't help but feel nervous. Pissing off the Illusive Man was not something she had planned, but she was pretty sure she was prepared to live with the consequences.

Shepard sat up on her bed and stretched. She felt the ship decelerate after the jump through the Omega 4 relay. She smiled to herself, glad to be back in space she recognized.

"Congratulations, Commander. First humans to make it round-trip through the Omega 4 relay!" rejoiced Joker over the comm.

"If anyone could get us in and out safely, it was you, Joker. Put us in orbit around Omega. Let's see if we can find some salvage parts to patch up the hull," replied Shepard.

"Aye aye, Commander."

Shepard found her way into the briefing room by way of the med bay. Doctor Chakwas had dressed her head wound somewhat more dramatically than she would have liked. The gauze wrapped around her head made her look like she just had brain surgery.

"Medi-gel will stop the bleeding, Commander, but it won't help that cut heal. It needs to stay covered or it will scar," the doctor had said. Shepard had known Dr. Chakwas for a while, and she knew how fruitless an argument with her would have been. She would just have to suck it up and look wounded.

"EDI, give me access to the ship-wide intercom, please," requested Shepard.

"Certainly, Commander. Intercom is now ready for use," replied EDI. A charming low bell tone resonated in every room in the Normandy.

"Shepard here. Congratulations, team. By now you've noticed that we've successfully navigated the Omega 4 relay. Each and every one of you has contributed to this achievement in your own way. We've all heard that it couldn't be done. We proved them wrong. Our fight is far from over, but for now we've all earned a little R&R. We'll be docking at Omega station shortly. Before anyone is dismissed, I'd like to meet with all officers, specialists, and team members in the briefing room in five minutes, please. All other crew members should expect a leave schedule from their commanding officer shortly. Shepard out."

Shepard paced the length of the briefing room several times before Jacob walked in. He looked at her bandaged head and raised an eyebrow.

"Sometimes I think Chakwas gets a kick out of making people look like gimps," said Jacob. Shepard laughed, and her hand self-consciously found its way to her forehead.

"It's not as bad as it looks. It would take more than a smack to the head to take me out," she replied. Jacob smirked. "Shut it, Taylor," said Shepard preemptively.

As the rest of her team filled the small briefing room, Shepard was pleased to see Chakwas had gotten her well-meaning hands on some of them as well. Garrus sported a sling, Samara had her knee wrapped, and Engineer Donnelly had a bandage over his ear, which covered almost the whole left side of his head. Most of the crew had already cleaned up. Zaeed and Grunt seemed to be the only ones who didn't feel the urgent need to shower after the battle. Thane entered and Shepard noticed his eyes widen slightly with concern as he looked at her. Damn bandage, that's precisely what she wanted to avoid: unnecessarily worrying anyone, especially Thane. He walked over to stand next to her, and discreetly grabbed her hand.

Shepard noted with amusement that Mordin was the last to arrive, even though his office was closest to the briefing room. Probably running tests on Collector tissue or tech, she figured. She briefly wondered if Mordin ever slept, trying to remember if she'd ever even seen him tired. She tried to bring her focus to the meeting she'd called. When she looked around the room, she was suddenly filled with an overwhelming sense of pride and relief. No one was killed, or even seriously injured. She wanted to give everyone on her crew something nice, something they deserved. The best she could do at the moment was shore leave on Omega. Even she wasn't particularly excited at the prospect of hanging around in the lawless station, but it was a change of pace, at least.

"Thanks for coming, everyone. Like I said, I'm not officially considering this mission completed," Shepard gave a meaningful glance to Samara, who nodded in response. "However, we've docked at Omega station for a break and repairs. I would like for everyone to have some shore leave, and as we'll likely be here for the next forty eight hours, I think twenty four hour shifts are in order. CO's should make schedules for your subordinates and give them to Miranda as soon as you can. If you report directly to me, I've already given my list to Miranda, so you can check with me or ask her about your leave. We'll debrief the last mission after the Normandy is repaired, giving everyone some time and distance to collect their thoughts. Use it well, people."

"Excellent, am looking forward to checking up on the clinic in person," said Mordin.

"My parents live there, anyone looking for a place to stay on Omega would be welcome," said Ken Donnelly.

"Great, thanks Ken. Let's save the logistics for after this meeting, though. Looking to keep it short," said Shepard. Ken flushed slightly, but waved and gestured that anyone who wanted to could talk to him after the meeting. "So, if there are no questions," Shepard paused, looking around. Others were looking around as well, clearly anxious to be off duty. "Great, thank you everyone. Told you it'd be short. I'd like to speak with Tali and Garrus for a minute, everyone else dismissed."

With great bustle and murmur, the group shuffled out of the briefing room. Thane squeezed Shepard's hand, whispering softly, "Your quarters, one hour," as he left. The low vibrations of his voice gave her goosebumps. She smiled. Garrus caught the end of that exchange and looked meaningfully at Tali. She shrugged. The quarian perched herself upon the table waiting for Shepard's instructions.

"The Normandy's got some holes that need to be patched up. Garrus, you know Omega. Where is a good salvage yard?"

"A good one, Commander? Or a reputable one? I shouldn't have to tell you that there's a big difference on Omega," replied the turian.

"Honestly, at this point, reputation doesn't concern me as much as cost. I'm afraid we're cut off from Cerberus credits. I haven't got a chance to ask the council for help yet, but that is probably the next stop. We're working on a budget here."

"In that case, there is a place down in the lower markets that I've worked with in the past. I'll have to see if my contacts are still active, but if they are, the proprietor there owes me a favor," said Garrus. His eyes squinted in a grin.

"Excellent, we'll start there. Tali, I'll need you when we get the parts to actually fix the hull. EDI's got systems under control, but I'll need you for the physical repairs."

"You can count on me, Shepard. I'll make a list of supplies we'll need. I'll be in engineering if you need me," said Tali'Zorah.

"I have already compiled a list of components necessary to complete repairs on the Normandy, Tali'Zorah. Forwarding it to your log now," said EDI, popping up from the table. Tali threw her hands up and huffed. Shepard gave Tali a sympathetic smile. The quarian mistrusted VI technology, and with good reason. Shepard knew Tali struggled with more of a personal grudge against EDI for being associated with Cerberus.

"Well then, that's it. Meet me at the airlock in -" Shepard looked at her omni-tool for the time. "Three hours. You guys know what to do, so do it. We're done here, dismissed," said the commander. Shepard followed Garrus and Tali out of the briefing room into the CIC. She let them take the elevator down first, choosing to wait for it to come back up. Looking across her bridge, she could see Joker adjusting his monitors, talking to Omega flight control over his earpiece. EDI's holographic image seemed to hover behind him, and Shepard could tell she was trying to offer some advice to the helmsman. The elevator returned to her level and Shepard boarded, smiling as she thought of Thane and what he had in store for her in her quarters.


	2. Before the Inevitable

Commander Shepard breathed a deep, satisfied sigh. As she lay with her head resting against Thane's chest, she could hear his heartbeat and feel his chest rise and fall with each breath. As much as she tried to stay out of dark places during moments like this, she couldn't help wondering how long they had to spend with each other. She could not hear evidence of the infectious Kepral's Syndrome in his lungs as she listened to his breathing, but she knew it was there. She nestled closer to him, and as Thane wrapped his arm around her waist, Liara's words echoed in her head.

"What are you fighting for, Shepard? A few stolen months with Thane before the inevitable?" That's what Liara said on her last visit to the Normandy. She was blunt, but she was right. Her old friend had given her a lot to think about during that visit. Liara was definitely changed, even more so since she had taken over as the Shadow Broker. Her new contacts and information had already come in handy for the Commander in a tactical sense, but she also found that the Shadow Broker had a vested interest in her and her crew. Not entirely surprising, but Shepard still wondered why.

She did find intel that was both surprising and entertaining regarding her crew. Shepard and Liara had a good laugh about Garrus' music preferences and Miranda's subscription to what appeared to be an extranet dating service for successful business people. Reviewing that data with Liara was maybe not entirely professional, but Shepard figured there was no harm in it. She did, however, download the file the Shadow Broker had been developing on Thane and took it with her.

The file included his medical records taken from the Normandy's med bay as well as a letter he had written addressed to Shepard, taken from his personal log. It was clear that he had not intended for her to read it until after he was gone. She had read it immediately, of course. She read it every time she was alone in her quarters, which wasn't as often as it had once been. The letter made her sad, true, but it also made her realize that Liara was right, this was what she was fighting for. The letter sharpened her focus and adjusted her perspective about the upcoming battle: the confrontation she had yet to have with the reapers. Shepard shifted her body, attempting to find a more comfortable position.

"Something is troubling you, siha," said Thane. He looked down to find Shepard's face looking up at him. She smiled crookedly.

"It's nothing," she said. "I just have a lot on my mind."

"Anything you would care to discuss with me?" he asked. Shepard's eyes lingered on his face, studying his reptilian features that were so similar and yet so different from a human face. Features that she had come to find exotic and uniquely handsome.

"I was thinking about something Liara said to me the other day," she began. Shepard paused, unsure if she wanted to continue. She didn't like to bring up his illness with him, but she couldn't help thinking it was the metaphorical "elephant in the room" at times. "She told me that I am experiencing the same thing that an asari goes through when they bond with a shorter lived species." Thane rested his head on his pillow, looking up at the ceiling.

"That is an interesting perspective," said Thane. "I had not considered that." He moved his hand to stroke Shepard's hair. He was fascinated by her hair, it amused Shepard that he always wanted to touch it. He had told her once that to his eyes, it was the same color as the sea at dusk.

"I thought so. She said it in that way she has – that calm. When she put it like that - I don't know, it brought me some peace," said Shepard. She sat up and looked down at Thane. His eyes closed for a moment, and then he moved to sit up as well.

"I am glad, siha," he said. He covered her hand with his, looking steadily into her eyes. "I can tell that is not the only thing that is on your mind, but thank you for sharing that with me."

"You're right, it's not the only thing, but sharing that with you just made me feel a lot better," said Shepard. Thane tilted his head to the side, regarding her. His hand moved from hers, brushing her cheek and lingering at the gauze covering the wound on her brow. Shepard moved in to kiss him, hoping to convey the surge of emotion she felt as he touched her face in action better than she could with words.

She leaned toward him, bracing herself against his bare chest and twining a hand around to caress the back of his neck. She brushed his cheek, his forehead, and finally his lips with hers. His skin was cool, dry and soft against her lips. She could feel the soreness of her bruises – it excited her. His breath was warm against her neck, becoming gradually heavier. With a series of deft maneuvers, Thane laid the commander flat on her back, pinning her shoulders. He was on top of her before she realized it, straddling her hips, his gaze intense. Shepard grinned mischievously up at him, impressed by his speed and grace. The buzz of Shepard's comm on the nightstand shattered the moment.

"Uh, Commander? Are you coming? Tali and I have been waiting near the airlock for the past twenty minutes," the comm relayed Garrus' voice. Shepard gaped, frustrated. After a pause and a regretful look, Thane leapt up with the same grace and handed Shepard the comm.

"Seriously?" she mouthed to Thane. He shrugged, smiling. "Garrus, I said sixteen hundred hours," she spoke into the device.

"I know. Find a watch, Shepard." Garrus spoke back. Shepard glared at the device. She squinted at her alarm clock. It read 16:10.

"Twenty minutes, my ass," she grumbled.

"It would be rude to keep them waiting," he said as he dressed. Shepard smirked, more than tempted to keep them waiting for at least another couple of hours. Ah, the price of responsibility, she mused.

"I'm coming, give me five minutes. Shepard out," she said into the comm. Shepard opened her closet and found her armor. She was pleased to find it had been cleaned. Her errand was only a routine supplies run, but full armor was appropriate attire for wandering around the gang-filled territories of Omega. "I'm sorry, I have to get down there. It was my idea in the first place," said Shepard.

"Of course," said Thane, helping her into her greaves. His hands lingered on her hips. Shepard turned around to find herself in his embrace.

"We'll pick this up when I get back," she said, her lips brushing his as she spoke.

"I shall look forward to it, siha," he replied. He caught her hand as she reached for her pistol and brushed it with his lips. She watched him leave, regretfully, then turned to equip the rest of her weapons. Here's to making this a quick trip, she thought to herself, and summoned the elevator.


	3. Sense and Liability

**_Thanks so much for reading! I have a thing for reading feedback, so let me know what you think!_**

Shepard found Garrus and Tali chatting with Joker in the cockpit. It did not seem to her that they were very put out from having to wait. Shopping trip, in and out, she reminded herself. The cargo hold had holes in it that needed patching, and they were quickly running out of credits. Omega was not only the closest station; parts and labor were far less expensive there than on the Citadel. Probably because the place was overrun with murderers and thieves, thought Shepard grimly. She rearranged her annoyed expression into a pleasant one, and approached the group.

"...And that's how I got put on the Daratar 'undesirables' list. See Tali? I told you it wasn't that great of a story," said Joker, clearly in his element while entertaining the two.

"I don't understand, Joker. How did you manage to smuggle a plasma can-" Tali managed to get out before Joker interrupted.

"Commander! We were all just sitting here waiting for you. Right guys? Weren't we all just sitting here waiting for the commander?" he said, smiling a little too widely.

"Relax, Joker. I'm not here to start an inquisition. Not today, anyway," said Shepard. Garrus stifled a chuckle behind his hand.

"Great. Well, I'll just get back to – what it was I was doing," said Joker.

"You do that, Joker. Miranda has the deck until I get back," said Shepard. Joker nodded. She turned to Tali and Garrus. "All right, team. Let's make this happen," said Shepard, gesturing the squad toward the airlock and following behind them.

"See ya, commander," called Joker after her, and turned his chair to face the glowing monitors.

Even though Omega was the base of operations for some of the worst criminals in the galaxy, Shepard found comfort in the station's gritty familiarity. The Collector attacks hadn't changed Omega, not that she expected they would. Looking around, she still saw beggars and groups of thugs in mercenary uniforms. Shepard wondered if anyone on the station even knew what she and her crew had done in their name. We didn't fight the Collectors to be congratulated, she reminded herself. On the other hand, she was glad to see that there were at least some things she could count on.

Garrus led the way down into the lower markets by way of the apartments. Shepard thought he seemed a little on edge; his right hand hovered near the grip of his pistol. It made sense, not two months ago every merc on the station wanted nothing more than his head on a plate. They walked by rows of identical doors to tiny, crowded economy apartments. Shepard noticed some broken glass outside one of the apartments next to a large bluish-brown stain on the wall. Upon closer inspection, she realized it was blood – turian blood. She shook her head, disgusted, and caught up with her group. Shouts echoed over the murmur of the crowd. A batarian "prophet" spouted his anti-human sermon to passerby, occasionally drawing over a shopper or two. Some shouted back, others merely listened. Tali's head moved rapidly back and forth, taking in as much information as she could as they walked.

"This place is fascinating, Shepard. I can't believe I never actually set foot on this station before. We were too busy, I guess," said Tali.

"It's something else, all right," agreed Shepard. "Garrus, what else can you tell me about this contact of yours?"

"He's a mechanic, the best on the station. Underrated because he's human. His name's Andre, but everyone calls him Scratch," said Garrus.

"Scratch? What is it with Omega and nicknames?" asked Shepard. Garrus looked over his shoulder at her, a questioning look on his face. "Never mind. You said this guy owes you a favor?"

"The parts he deals aren't always acquired by legit means, Shepard. I know what you're thinking, but you have to pick your battles around here. He's not perfect, but his work is good and his prices are fair. He got into some trouble with the Blue Suns a while back. They were trying to extort labor out of him – wanted him to work for free or else they'd turn him in for selling stolen property," said Garrus.

"The Suns were probably the ones supplying him with the stolen parts in the first place," offered Tali.

"Exactly. And you know Aria, Shepard. She would just try to clean it up as fast as possible. She'd kick him off Omega, or worse. Keeping the merc groups happy is how she keeps the upper hand. Aria doesn't care about people like Scratch," said Garrus, his voice bitter.

"I see. So you helped him get rid of the Suns?"

"You're damn right I helped him! No one else was going to. It's amazing how people here can know exactly what's going on and just watch, without doing anything about it," said Garrus. Tali laid a hand on his shoulder.

"You did something about it," said Tali, softly. Garrus looked down at the quarian, surprised.

"I – I did what I could," said Garrus, faltering. There was a pause, and then Tali found something of great interest on her omni-tool. Shepard looked up at Garrus, amused by his puzzled expression, and patted him on the back.

"It's all anyone can do, Garrus. Are we getting close?" asked Shepard.

"Yes, the place is up ahead there," he said. He nodded his head toward the market and he started off. Tali looked up from her omni-tool, caught up with Shepard, and the two followed.

Shepard was glad to be clear of the apartments. It was a tense atmosphere. People on the street walked quickly, keeping their heads down. The further into the apartment corridor they went, the less chatter Shepard noticed. She sensed the local residents were under distress, but she wasn't sure if it were more or less than what was normal for the lower apartments. It was only when they got to the markets that she knew for certain that something was wrong. The markets, which were usually so busy, were completely deserted. Shepard held up her hand and stepped out in front of Garrus, then signaled her squad to ready their weapons. The team walked in unison, covering each other. As they reached the middle of the square, the sudden sound of whirring gears surrounded them.

"Security mechs, take cover!" ordered Shepard. She activated her disruptor ammo, aimed, and fired. The nearest mech's head exploded, echoing in the empty hall.

"Deploying overload charges," said Tali. Tali broke cover and overloaded three mechs that were closing in, their robotic voices stuttering as their circuits melted. Garrus sniped one that was making its way from behind a door, then made a sweep of the area. He fired a final shot into one of the short-circuiting robots.

"All clear, commander," said Garrus.

"Security mechs? Is this normal?" asked Tali as she holstered her pistol.

"Not exactly," said Garrus. "I couldn't find any indication of who they belonged to, Shepard. Aria doesn't use mechs, says they're only good for giving out parking tickets and delivering take-out."

"She has a point," said Tali.

"It's clear something's going on, but let's not rush to any conclusions," said Shepard.

"Come on, Scratch's place is just over here," said Garrus, indicating an empty storefront. Every shelf and hook was vacant. A lighted sign flickered in the window, reading "Sorry, We're Closed". At the back of the store was a door. The entry pad glowed red. Shepard moved aside and let Tali bypass the lock.

The door led to a small apartment. Shepard walked around the first room, a living room with a kitchen attached. There was a datapad near the door, broken and unreadable. A table and chairs was overturned in the corner. She examined the area around the table and found two shattered plates. One of the shards had the remains of some kind of food on it. No mold and no foul odor had Shepard believing the place was ransacked recently.

"There are still valuables here, Shepard. It doesn't look like anything was taken," said Tali, scanning the room.

Shepard followed a short hallway from the living room, found another door and opened it, revealing a small bathroom that seemed to have been undisturbed. The next door opened to a bedroom. Shepard stepped inside, peering around the corner. She heard a loud cry and was knocked back by what felt like an explosion. The air was forced out of her lungs by the impact. Before she had time to react, the force was lifting her into the air by her throat. She couldn't move, all she could see was the bright blue and white of a biotic field. She heard Garrus and Tali rush into the room. She fought to breathe, to yell, but her throat was being crushed by the biotic force.

"I warned you not to come back! Haven't you taken enough from me?" said a feminine voice thick with rage and amplified to near-deafening by her biotics. Shepard was close to blacking out when she felt her body get hurled across the room and crumple against a wall. She rolled over and propped herself onto her hands, coughing. As soon as she got a full breath, she found she was trapped in place once again. She saw Tali run to her, but she was unable to get past the biotic stasis field.

"Kiana?" said Garrus, squinting to see past the light of the biotic field. Shepard found she could open her eyes. She looked up to see clearly the face of an asari woman who was glaring at her with pure hatred. A blue biotic field glowed around her. It was unsteady, almost twitchy, as if she did not have it under her complete control. Garrus took a cautious step closer.

"Don't come any closer, mercenary! I will kill your friend, don't think I won't!" she roared. Shepard could feel the stasis field closing in, constricting her.

"Kiana, let her go. We're here to help. What happened here? Where is Andre?" asked Garrus gently. At the mention of Andre, the asari's biotic field flared and Shepard braced herself for another assault. Instead, when the woman turned and saw Garrus, she dropped her biotic field all together. Shepard gasped and stood up as fast as she could. Her head spun and her whole body ached. She pointed her pistol at the woman.

The woman took a step closer to Garrus. Blue light sparked from her fingertips, she blinked.

"Archangel?" she asked, unbelieving. "But they said you were dead."

"Not yet," said Garrus. Kiana looked closely at Garrus' face, then turned to pace along the wall of the room. "Tell us what happened, Kiana."

"I – I wasn't, I couldn't," she began. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she turned to face the wall. Shepard lowered her pistol and cleared her throat.

"Take your time, Kiana," said Shepard. Kiana looked at her, nodded, then took a deep breath.

"They came last night – the Blue Suns. They said you were dead, Archangel, and that Andre didn't have anyone to hide behind anymore. They broke in here and took him right in the middle of dinner! I wasn't fast enough, I couldn't -" said Kiana. She banged her fists against the wall. Tali and Shepard looked at Garrus, waiting for his response. He shook his head, frustrated. Kiana turned, pointing an accusatory finger at him. "Where were you? Andre said we didn't have to worry about the Suns anymore because of you."

"It's not his fault!" said Tali, cutting in. Garrus held up a hand, and she backed down.

"I've been away. I'm so sorry this happened to you, Kiana. But I'm here now," he said. The asari looked at the floor, ashamed.

"No, I'm sorry. I know it's not your fault, I just -" she started.

"Is there anything else you can tell us about what happened?" asked Shepard. Kiana walked around the bed and through the door, motioning for the group to follow her into the living room. She pointed to the overturned table.

"We were right there, having dinner. Two batarians in Suns uniforms forced the door open and took Andre. They said they had unfinished business, and that they'd kill him if I tried anything or told anyone what happened," said Kiana with a sob. "If I had been faster, I could have put up a barrier on the door. I'm just glad our daughter wasn't home. Oh goddess, she doesn't even know!"

"It will be okay, Kiana. You can't blame yourself for this. It sounds like they wanted him alive," said Shepard. She looked over at Garrus for confirmation, she could tell his mind was racing. Distracted, he nodded at Shepard. "We'll bring Andre back to you, Kiana."

"I'm sorry, ma'am, about – back there," Kiana began. Shepard shook her head.

"I'm okay. I'd feel sorrier for anyone else who tries to break in here, though. Tali, is there a way you could bolster the security on that door?" said Shepard, turning to Tali.

"Yes, commander. I'll do that now," said Tali, moving closer to the front door and activating her omni-tool. Garrus stepped toward Kiana and opened his mouth to speak, and faltered. Shepard walked toward Tali and the door. Garrus turned to follow, stopping halfway.

"I'll find him, Kiana. Don't worry," said Garrus over his shoulder, then took his leave from the apartment. Shepard waited for Tali to finish her security adjustments to the door. The two found Garrus standing at a balcony looking over a large part of the residential area. Shepard knew enough to not question Garrus about what his thought process was - he would just shut down. With others, this state of emotional vulnerability might be a liability. With Garrus, it drove him. Shepard knew he wouldn't rest until he found Scratch, for better or worse. She trusted Garrus with her life and she knew he trusted her, but Shepard wondered if she could trust him to follow her lead on this. She started walking toward the end of the market, motioning for her squad to follow.

"Come on, I have a feeling we're not going to be able to avoid talking to Aria now," she said, walking into a corridor. The walls were lined with lights and the low bass vibrated through the walls. Shepard stretched her neck and shoulders. She disliked Afterlife and the arrogant asari for whom the club served as an command center. However, she knew she'd find at least some answers there – if not a whole new set of problems.


	4. In the Afterlife

_**Thank you so much for reading! Let me know what you think in the review section!**_

Security outside of Afterlife was heavier than Shepard had seen it before. As her team walked up to the door to the bottom floor of the club, Shepard saw a serious looking krogan watching them and talking into an earpiece. The krogan stood by the door along with two turians Shepard could only assume were guards, judging by the way they glared at the passerby and carried weapons. Her group approached the door and were stopped by one of the turians.

"No weapons allowed inside," he said, indicating Shepard and her crew. Garrus laughed harshly and the guard frowned.

"Since when?" asked Garrus.

"Those are the rules. You don't like 'em? Talk to Aria. _After_ you surrender your weapons," said the turian rudely, moving a hand to his pistol. Garrus mirrored his movement, glaring at the guard. Shepard stepped forward between them to intervene when the krogan stepped in.

"Aria has been expecting you, Commander Shepard," said the krogan. He gestured for the guards to move aside. Garrus favored the guard who talked to them with a pointed-toothed grin and patted his sniper rifle as he walked by.

The crew made their way in. The inside of the club was significantly warmer than the rest of the station. It smelled like sweat and booze to Shepard – a smell that reminded the commander strongly of her childhood. She wondered if that's why she hated Afterlife so much. After a moment she shrugged off the notion, not wanting to think about it. The squad wound their way through groups of dancing and drinking patrons. A drunken man on the dance floor turned around and grabbed Shepard to dance. Shepard shoved him off her a bit more violently than she had planned. She apologized, but the man flung a series of rude gestures at her anyway. Shepard didn't hold it against him. People came to places like Afterlife to escape. Judging by the large crowd, Shepard guessed the people of Omega were badly in need of escape.

When they had reached the far end of the bar, Shepard was not surprised to find four large and heavily armed turians and a batarian lined up by the end of the stairway that led to Aria's lounge. She recognized the batarian as Anto from her previous visits. He made no indication that he recognized her at all. Shepard leaned over to look at the other entrance to Aria's and found a similar scene. It looked like Aria was either expecting trouble or rebounding from it. Shepard wasn't thrilled with either of those possibilities. As much as Shepard considered Aria to be a crooked tyrant, she admitted that Aria did maintain a semblance of order on Omega. "Semblance" being the operative word, thought Shepard. Anto spoke into an earpiece, waited for a response, and nodded Shepard and her team up the stairs.

Aria sat reclined in the middle of a sofa that overlooked the main dance floor. She had a drink in her hand – water, from what Shepard could tell. She seemed as cool as ever to the commander, despite the increased guard presence. Garrus and Tali waited at the entrance to the lounge as Shepard stepped forward up the few low stairs to where Aria sat. Sitting down, Shepard mimicked Aria's posture, reclining and lazily crossing one leg over the other. Let the games begin, she thought dourly. She crossed her arms and waited for Aria to speak first. The asari looked at Shepard and her companions, took a slow sip from her glass and leaned forward.

"Commander Shepard," she began. Shepard inclined her head slightly toward Aria, her face a mask of polite interest. "Hero of the Citadel, and now the conqueror of the collectors. Do you like that last one? I thought of it just now."

"Catchy," said Shepard. "Listen, Aria, I'd really rather just cut to the chase here -"

"What's the rush, Shepard?" she asked. Smiling wickedly, Aria turned and waved to Garrus, he looked away. "I see you brought our old friend Archangel," said Aria. She looked over at Tali and then back to the commander, smiling. "And a quarian! Adorable. A little 'Fleet and Flotilla' action going on aboard your ship, commander?" the asari jeered. Aria studied Shepard's face, but she found it unreadable. She continued, needling. "I am curious about Archangel. Does that man have a death wish? Most people around here are more than content to believe he was killed in that firefight a couple months ago."

"That's part of the reason I'm here," Shepard began.

"I'll just bet it is," spat Aria. The change in her tone alarmed the commander. She saw the nearest guards reach for their weapons, as well as Garrus and Tali. She shook her head at her crew and they stood down, reluctantly. Aria signaled for her guards to be at ease, and then relaxed herself. "So, why are you here? Did you come to tell me what it feels like to be the cause of all my problems?"

"Excuse me?" asked Shepard, bewildered.

"Don't get coy with me, Shepard. I know you've been down to the markets, surely you've seen your friend Massani's influence at work down there," said Aria. This should be good, thought Shepard.

"Aria, what are you talking about? What does Zaeed have to do with anything?" she asked.

"At least you don't deny it. Very well, Shepard, I'll play it your way – for now," warned Aria. With an exasperated sigh, she began. "Not long ago, your ship was spotted on Zorya. While there, you, Massani, and Archangel over there stormed the Eldfell-Ashland refinery, killing Vido Santiago who was acting captain of the Blue Suns as well as a large number of miners who died when the refinery exploded. I must admit I'm impressed, Shepard, I didn't think that was your style."

"It's not - if I could change how things turned out, I would. Even so, Vido was nothing less than a terrorist. We did the galaxy a favor that day," said Shepard.

"Spare me the speech. I am not one of your fans," said Aria, making the last word sound like an insult. Shepard rolled her eyes and sighed.

"It was a commission Zaeed had picked up before joining my crew. We took care of it. End of story," said Shepard.

"You took down the head of one of the biggest mercenary groups in the galaxy, Shepard! With the man who founded them! You expect me to believe that's where it ended? Unless that _is_ what you actually believe," said Aria, laughing. "No, I can't believe that you, of all people, would be that naïve. It would ruin my image of you as a shrewd and fearless savior of worlds, commander." Aria smirked at Shepard, and she narrowed her eyes in response.

"Look Aria, I don't know what you're trying to get at, but neither I nor any of my crew have had anything more to do with the Blue Suns since we left Zorya," said Shepard. She was pretty sure she was telling the truth. Aria scoffed. Shepard ignored her and continued, pointing a gloved finger at her host. "You know who I am, and you know what my team and I are capable of. If I wanted to take you down, Aria, I would have done it by now," she said. She spoke with conviction that could not be denied, even by Aria. The asari tilted her head slightly, considering Shepard's statement. She swirled her water glass slowly in her hand, and watched the liquid's movement.

"If I did believe that, and I'm not saying that I do," said Aria in an attempt to save face, "that doesn't much change the situation at hand. Everything here on Omega started going straight to hell after we got the news of Vido's untimely death."

"Everything? What is the situation here?" asked Shepard.

"My intel says that the new leader of the Suns has his sights set on taking over Omega – surprise, surprise. As you can imagine, I've tried to shut them down on more than one occasion, but they're always ready for us. My people are getting slaughtered in ambushes that we should have been prepared for," said Aria. Her hands turned into fists in her lap. "My intel is corrupted, Shepard. As much as I don't want to talk about this with an outsider, I think we can help each other." Aria looked over to gauge Shepard's reaction. Shepard raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms.

"Are you saying that the Suns are responsible for clearing out the markets?" asked Shepard.

"That, and terrorizing everyone down there into only doing business with them. They're controlling trade – and they're _good_ at it! Trying to strangle me financially. It's too clever for the miscreants who used to run the Suns here. As if that weren't enough, there's the matter of the leak within my organization."

"What do you know about the new leader?" asked Shepard.

"He's a dead man when I find him," said Aria. "Could be a woman, that would be interesting – she would still be just as dead, though. He calls himself Alpha, which would be cute if it weren't so annoying. I'm assuming they're still operating out of the Suns base down by the warehouses, but, like I said, I don't trust anything I hear anymore."

"Why ask for my help? Why not ask the other merc groups?" asked Shepard. Aria sighed dramatically and threw her hands up in the air.

"Cowards, all of them! Eclipse and Blood Pack say they're waiting to see who wins. The vorcha – well, they're about as organized as a pack of varren."

"Guess that's what you get when you deal with mercenaries," said Shepard. "I'm intrigued, but why would I want to help you? I could just leave now and head to the next nearest space station."

"I can pay you well."

"Don't mistake me for a mercenary," said Shepard. Aria laughed openly.

"Don't kid yourself, Shepard. You're no longer military. Just because you're used to hunting bigger game for your own noble reasons doesn't mean you aren't a hired gun for the Illusive Man," said Aria. Shepard leaned in closer to her.

"I don't work for Cerberus anymore either," she said dangerously.

"Sounds like you could use the credits, then," said Aria, unblinking. Shepard looked over to Garrus and Tali. Tali made a sweeping gesture with her hand. Garrus saw it and nodded at Shepard.

"There's a man, a human mechanic. His name is Scratch. He's been kidnapped by the Blue Suns. I want a security detail outside his home for his wife until we get him back," said the commander. Aria nodded.

"I know of him. His _wife_ was a dancer here. I can't believe she went through that bizarre human matrimonial ceremony. I will put a watch down there, but my guard's presence will only agitate the Suns. Does this mean we have an understanding, Shepard?" asked Aria. From the corner of her eye, Shepard saw Tali make the sweeping gesture again.

"One hundred thousand," said Shepard. Tali gave her a thumbs up. Shepard looked at Garrus and he tilted his head to the side. "Up front. Also, the parts and labor needed to fix my ship." Garrus nodded affirmatively.

"Seventy five," said Aria, narrowing her eyes.

"I'm not going to haggle with you. Unless you're not interested -" Shepard moved as if to stand, Aria held up a hand.

"You make deals like a volus banker," said Aria, sounding slightly amused. "Fine, a hundred thousand, except you'll have fifty up front. You'll get the rest when I have at least the name of the double-agent in my employ and satisfaction that the Blue Suns are taken care of. You'll have the credits, repair, _and_ I'll forget those data packages you delivered to that ridiculous salarian last time you were here." Shepard grabbed her arm, stretching her shoulders.

"Don't know anything about that," she said, and shrugged. "Seems reasonable enough. You have a deal." Shepard looked pointedly at Aria's omni-tool. The asari raised an eyebrow, then after a moment obliged the commander and activated the tool, transferring the credits to her account. Shepard stood up and held out her hand to Aria. They shook on the deal and turned to part ways. Aria returned to her seat overlooking her club. Shepard followed Garrus and Tali out the way they entered. Away from Aria's lounge, Shepard shook out her arms.

"Come on, I can't get out of this place fast enough," said Shepard as she plowed through a group of enthusiastic dancers. It seemed like the way out of the club was longer than the way in, but they finally got outside. The door opened and the cool fresh air blew over the squad. It felt to Shepard like she hadn't had a good breath in an hour. She was tired, sore, and more than a little annoyed. Doing business with Aria made her feel dirty, but the Normandy needed the repairs and her crew could use the credits. That mechanic needed their help, that much Shepard knew. That it wasn't all about the money was the one thing that made her feel okay about the situation. She turned to her friends. "So much for shore leave, huh?" she said, one hand massaging her temple.

"Most of the crew was waiting until we got to the Citadel to take their leave anyway," said Tali. Shepard looked sharply at the quarian.

"That's information that would have been more useful to me before now," she said. Tali shrugged, putting her hands up.

"We're going to need to know more about the Suns defenses so we're not going in there blind, Shepard," said Garrus, fussing with his omni-tool. He paused. "Uh, we'll also need to know where we're going."

"Yeah, I got that. Maybe EDI's scans will pick something up." Shepard leaned over a rail and looked down into the center of Omega. She knew the Suns would be well armed. That Aria had a mole in her organization was cause for alarm. She was as shrewd as any information broker Shepard had met, with the possible exception of Liara. If Aria didn't know who was betraying her, that meant the deceiver was very good. If the mercs didn't already know she was coming, they would know soon enough. Her head ached from stress and annoyance. She didn't want to ask her crew to come with her. She knew she didn't have to ask, that they'd be more than willing to volunteer. Hell, they might even fight over it. Still, she couldn't help but feel that they all deserved a vacation. The vacation would have to be postponed. Garrus and Tali stood on either side of Shepard, sharing her vista.

"One of these days, something really is going to be as simple as it seems and I am going to have a heart attack and die from surprise," said Shepard.

"And then we'd find some other rogue terrorist organization with deep pockets to bring you back from the dead," said Garrus simply. Shepard laughed and punched him in the arm, forgetting about his armor. Shepard rubbed her knuckles and pushed herself off the rail, leading her team toward Omega's docking bay.


	5. The War Room

Joker bobbed his head in time to the beat of the Expel-10 song that blasted through his headset. The away team had been ashore for longer than he expected, but there had been zero traffic on the comm. Joker knew from experience that if Shepard had run into trouble, he would be one of the first to hear about it. He scanned a monitor looking for sound fluctuations, making sure that he hadn't missed any static. Nothing - apparently the away team was just taking their time. Leaning over, he deftly sifted through the open windows on his console. He smiled in satisfaction to find out he won the turian flight simulator game he had been bidding on as he flicked through the tabs on his extranet browser. A vid of a house cat ambushing a tough looking krogan played in a small window. Joker chuckled and flicked to the next tab. He pressed "replay" on the virtual chess board. Five moves later, he had checkmated his opponent, "infilTr80rN7" - location blocked. Joker was contemplating a trip to the mess when he heard EDI announce Shepard's arrival.

"Logged: Commander Shepard and shore party aboard, Officer Lawson stands relieved," said the AI. Joker swung his chair around to greet Shepard. With a start, he also quickly turned down the volume on his headset.

"- be down there in a couple minutes, I'm just gonna let Joker know what's going on," said Shepard to her squad as they exited the decontamination chamber. Joker watched Garrus and Tali chatting while they walked toward the elevator. He heard Shepard's boots on the metal floor, rounding the corner to the cockpit. She looked harassed and preoccupied. She roughly crammed her burgundy hair behind her ears and she had on what Joker called her "Don't-talk-to-me-I'm-on-a-mission" face. He prepared himself for a slough of information which he guessed was probably not about the wacky hijinks of the crew who had taken shore leave on Omega.

"Change of plans, Joker," said Shepard. "Blue Suns are getting out of hand on the station – kidnapping, racketeering -"

"The usual?" asked Joker, smirking. Shepard took off her gloves and tucked them under her arm. Her expression changed slightly, relaxing. She leaned against the wall.

"Basically, yeah. It got pretty heated in the markets down there. All the merchants were driven out, their shops were looted. We ran into some trouble with a couple mechs - nothing serious," she said.

"So what's the new plan, boss?" he asked.

"Oh - yeah, I told Aria we'd take care of it," said Shepard quickly. Her eyes were firmly on the monitors above the pilot's head.

"Wait - Aria? Self-proclaimed 'Queen of Omega' Aria? We're working for _her_ now?" said Joker incredulously.

"We're working _with_ her _for_ now," Shepard corrected. "It's not ideal, but there are people who need help down there and Aria's credits will keep us afloat until we can talk to the council. She's also footing the bill for the hull repairs, in addition to what we're being paid." Joker shook his head.

"Well at least that's something. Hey, maybe we can go work for Eclipse next and they'll give us a new paint job! I'm thinking lightning bolts on the front end," the pilot jested. Shepard rolled her eyes.

"It's not like that. Anyway, I'm gonna brief the squad in a few minutes. Thought you'd want to know we might be sticking around longer than planned," she said.

"Yeah, well telling the pilot where the ship is going is generally considered a good idea."

"Ah, Joker. This is why I keep you around," she said. Shepard looked around the cockpit, checking on the Normandy's systems. Joker hastily closed his extranet browser. Shepard hid her smile from the pilot.

"Anything else, commander?" asked Joker.

"I should go," said Shepard.

"All right, see ya," he said. The commander turned to leave and made her way down through the CIC. Joker could see Yeoman Chambers grab Shepard's attention. Shrink's probably warning her that we've all finally lost it, he guessed. Chuckling to himself, Joker turned his chair around and the volume up on his headset.

Gear cleaned and put away – check. Unread messages read – check. Space hamster fed – check. Shepard looked over the roster of available personnel for the second time. It appeared that from her immediate team, only Mordin and Kasumi had taken up the offer for shore leave on Omega. In an unofficial post script, Miranda had noted that engineers Ken and Gabby had left together. Shepard smirked; amused by not only the engineers leaving together, but at Miranda's passing the information along. She was glad to know that her relationship with the business-minded Cerberus officer had gotten to the point where she felt comfortable sharing gossip. Shepard wasn't sure whether to be surprised or relieved at how many of her squad remained on the ship. She'd need their help, but she did not look forward to briefing them on the mission if Joker's reaction was any indication of how the rest of them would feel. She tapped the screen at her terminal, summoning EDI.

"Ship-wide intercom please, EDI."

"Intercom ready, commander." Shepard could hear the low bell tone of the intercom simultaneously from the speaker in her quarters and in the elevator, which stood open on her deck.

"Commander Shepard speaking. All available squad members please head to the briefing room. Shepard out," said the commander. Hearing her own voice on the intercom is what put her off using it most of the time. Did she really sound like that? In her own head, she thought her voice sounded more – authoritative, or something. Closing the screen, she spun her chair away from the desk. It took her a moment to realize Thane stood in her doorway, silent as the ship. She stepped back, startled.

"I didn't mean to sneak up on you, siha," he said, a smug grin on his lips.

"Yeah, right. You're lucky I'm so tired, or you'd be on the ground right now," Shepard countered.

"I think what you meant to say is that if you were my mark, you'd be dead right now," he said. Thane moved closer to Shepard, placing his hands on her hips.

"I guess I'm lucky you're on my side then," she said. Shepard closed the space between then, lifting herself on her toes to kiss the drell thoroughly on the mouth. The taste of his skin made her head buzz. It was a pleasant, if not disconcerting feeling.

"If it would make you feel better, you are welcome to try and put me on the ground - after meeting with the crew, that is," said Thane.

"Right, I did just tell them to head down to the comm room, didn't I?" Shepard rubbed her forehead with the back of her hand.

"I'm afraid so," he said. Thane could see plainly the fatigue in Shepard's eyes, but he sensed her reluctance to discuss it. Fortunately, patience was one of his virtues – he would hear about the happenings on Omega soon enough.

"Ah well, did you come all the way up here just to walk me down?"

"In a manner of speaking. I was in your doorway when you began your announcement."

"Oh," said Shepard simply. Her cheeks flushed, slightly embarrassed to be caught so unguarded, even by Thane. "Well let's get down there, can't have them all together in one place for too long – could get messy."

"After you, siha," said Thane. He stepped aside to let Shepard pass. Instead, she caught his hand in hers and they walked into the elevator, bound for the level below.

The door to the briefing room was open. From the murmur inside, Shepard could tell that most of her team had already assembled. She was also pleasantly surprised to hear laughter, though she wasn't sure what she expected. The commander was about to turn the corner into the room when Thane held up a finger and halted her. He had a curious glint in his eye. Shepard looked at him, puzzled, but it soon became clear to her why he had stopped. He put a hand to his ear.

"You thought the Hammerhead was bad? You weren't there when we had the Mako! We had a joke below deck. Wrex always said he wasn't sure what would kill him first: Saren and the geth, or Shepard's driving," Shepard recognized Garrus' voice from the hallway followed by a chorus of laughter. She shot a wry smile at Thane.

"I remember one time we were on a low-G planet in the Mako," contributed Tali. "There was a pirate base camp below us at the bottom of this steep cliff. Shepard turns to us and says, 'Let's do this', right before she accelerates and hurls us over the edge! We drifted for so long before we finally landed upside down about a hundred meters away. We blew our cover, but it was worth it to see Garrus looking like he was about to faint." Another round of laughter. Shepard laughed out loud in the hall, even more so when the sound of her voice quieted the group inside. She stepped into the briefing room.

"Come on, it wasn't that bad," said Shepard. "I mean, who drove through a mass relay and landed right on top of a bunch of geth? If you're going to critique my driving skills, be fair and at least include the good parts."

"Right," Garrus coughed. "Sorry, commander."

"No need, I'm just glad to see everyone lightening up a bit. It's been a tense couple of weeks. Anyway, we're all here. Good," said Shepard. Thane found a seat near Samara. They nodded at each other. Jacob, Legion, and Miranda sat opposite them, with Garrus and Tali at the end of the table facing Shepard. Grunt paced along the side wall, punching his palm and grumbling quietly to himself. Jack stood near Zaeed in the back corner. Zaeed merely looked bored as he scanned through a magazine he brought up with him. Jack tried her best to look put out, but she couldn't hide her curiosity.

"Why are we here, Shepard? I thought we were supposed to be getting some free time," said Jack.

"To see the beautiful sights of Omega? No thanks, I'd rather work," said Miranda, lacing her long fingers together and looking coolly from Jack to the commander.

"Nobody asked you, cheerleader!" said Jack. White light flashed from her palms, threatening.

"Save it, both of you!" Shepard warned. "Getting to the point, I picked up a job on the station – hunting mercs, basically. I'm only taking a small team in, but I need everyone I can get to help plan. If you'd rather take your leave now, go ahead, I won't hold it against you. We just came back from a high-risk mission, I understand not wanting to get right into another one."

"High risk, huh? I'm in," rumbled Grunt, bumping his fists excitedly.

"We'll get to that part soon, Grunt – don't worry," said the commander. She scanned the room gauging the level of interest. No one was leaving. Shepard smiled inwardly and continued. "The man we were going to see about the Normandy's repairs has been kidnapped by Blue Suns. They've taken over most trade on the station, either by bullying shop owners or by redirecting shipments. From what we heard while we were there, it sounds like they're making a big push against Aria, and she's close to caving."

"Blue Suns? How the hell did they organize themselves after that shit hole we left them in on Zorya?" said Zaeed as he shoved his magazine away.

"That's one of the questions, Zaeed. Aria was convinced it was an elaborate scheme between you and I to take over the Suns and then Omega," said Shepard. Zaeed crossed his arms and looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Hmm. That doesn't sound like a half-bad idea, Shepard. I was thinking about retiring, but -" said Zaeed, pondering.

"I wasn't making a suggestion! I assured Aria that _wasn't_ the case. Nevertheless, one of her people is double-dealing with the Suns, corrupting her intel and who knows what else," said Shepard. "Simply put, the job is to take out the Suns, find the mole, and rescue the mechanic – not necessarily in that order."

"Wait, you're saying we're working for Aria?" asked Jacob. He shook his head, mumbling something under his breath.

"No, we're working _with_ Aria. She's not calling the shots, we're doing this our way. I wasn't looking for this, but the situation down there is bad. People are scared to leave their homes. There are armed security mechs patrolling civilian sectors! While Aria may not be the most noble leader, she's kept Omega operating relatively smoothly for decades, considering the population. Think about what would happen to all those people if the Suns took over leadership of Omega," said Shepard, the volume of her voice escalating gradually to the end. Samara pushed her chair quietly from the table and stood up, placing her blue palms on the table in front of her.

"You do not have to explain your actions, Shepard. I believe that all of us here have come to trust your judgment absolutely," she said calmly. The asari justicar looked around the room, almost daring anyone to contradict her. Finding no one, she took her seat. She inclined her head to Shepard, indicating for her to continue.

"Thank you, Samara," she said, touched by the justicar's statement as well as her crew's affirmation. "That basically covers the job. It's not gonna be easy, and there's a lot we don't know."

"We know that intel is being corrupted, maybe electronically. I can run a trace on the data and see if there is anything suspicious going on in the relay," offered Tali. Shepard nodded her head in acknowledgment.

"What we need is an insider, someone on the station who can tell us objectively what's going on," said Miranda.

"Mercs won't talk to us, not now. If they were uninvolved, being seen talking to us would just make them a target," said Zaeed.

"What about Patriarch?" asked Garrus. Shepard remembered the old krogan she'd helped out of an attempt on his life. He said he would be grateful, but Shepard wondered if it was time to collect.

"He's not what I would call objective. He was Aria's advisor," said Shepard.

"Yes, but it didn't seem like she listened to him much the last time we talked with him. I'll bet he knows more than what he's telling Aria, if she's even listening to him," said Garrus. Shepard shrugged.

"It's a start," she conceded. "Tomorrow Garrus, Grunt and I will go talk to the Patriarch." Grunt punched the air with his head. "Thank you, everyone. Once we do a little recon, we'll be better suited to get down to the real work. In the meantime, everyone get some rest. As soon as we have something to work with, we'll reconvene." The meeting adjourned, everyone began to slowly file out of the briefing room. Shepard tilted her head, noticing Legion remaining seated – apparently in an inactive state. She walked over to the geth and touched his shoulder. The light on his head glowed brighter when she touched him, and he acknowledged her.

"Shepard-Commander," he said plainly.

"You're quiet," said Shepard.

"Your form of communication is inefficient -" the geth began.

"Yes, we've covered this. Figure of speech, Legion. Do you have anything to add in regards to infiltrating the Suns base?" Shepard asked.

"Yes. While you were discussing, I was remotely accessing Omega's systems. I've hacked through the firewalls which will allow the Normandy to take control of the station's defenses, such as they are. Also, I've detected that the majority of weapons and tech are being delivered to a specific warehouse. There is also a notable organic signature there, I believe that is the Sun's base," said Legion. Shepard blinked, stunned. She would make it a point to record every time Legion surprised her with a new skill, just so she could keep track. Remotely hacking firewalls could come in handy in the future. She awkwardly patted the geth on the back.

"Keep up the good work, Legion," she said. He stood up and walked out, leaving Shepard and Thane in the comm room. The floor was silent as usual. Shepard grinned mischievously before quickly ducking low to the floor and sweeping her leg, taking Thane's feet out from under him. He landed with a thud on his back and she pinned him to the ground, straddling his chest.

"Told you I'd get you on the ground," said Shepard with a wink.

Shepard's mind had been on the edge of consciousness for what felt like hours. In her bed, she shifted uncomfortably. It seemed to her that the moment she thought she would find sleep was the moment somewhere on her body would start to ache. She turned again, trying not to disturb Thane, who looked like a drell statue. He lay there flat on his back, arms at his sides. _How is he even comfortable? _Shepard wondered. She was strictly a side-sleeper. She wondered for a moment if that's what her problem was. She looked at her alarm clock for the time, it read 02:00. She'd been at this for two hours. Shepard twisted over, laying on her stomach, and shoving her pillow into an acceptable shape. She breathed deeply, trying to remember the meditation techniques that Samara had been teaching her. Emptying her mind and relaxing each muscle from her feet to her head, she began to feel that familiar vertigo of slipping into the dream space. Shapes danced behind her eyelids and she heard voices, some more familiar than others. The voices began to speak words Shepard could understand. The shapes began to form images.


	6. Only a Dream

Shepard's mind had been on the edge of consciousness for what felt like hours. In her bed, she shifted uncomfortably. It seemed to her that the moment she thought she would find sleep was the moment somewhere on her body would start to ache. She turned again, trying not to disturb Thane, who looked like a drell statue. He lay there flat on his back, arms at his sides. _How is he even comfortable? _Shepard wondered. She was strictly a side-sleeper. She wondered for a moment if that's what her problem was. She looked at her alarm clock for the time, it read 02:00. She'd been at this for two hours. Shepard twisted over, laying on her stomach, and shoving her pillow into an acceptable shape. She breathed deeply, remembering the meditation techniques that Samara had been teaching her. Emptying her mind and relaxing each muscle from her feet to her head, she began to feel that familiar vertigo of slipping into the dream space. Shapes danced behind her eyelids and she began to hear voices, some more familiar than others. The voices began to speak words Shepard could understand. The shapes began to form images.

_ Shepard looked around. She was standing at the edge of a river, it was warm – almost hot. The water at her feet was dark and muddy. The river bank was charred and covered with blackened debris of varying sizes. A crumbling cement wall stuck out from the black sand – the remains of a building. The sun was directly above her and she began to feel sweat beading on her neck, where her skin met her armor. Recognition flooded her brain, filling her with dread. She was on Virmire. It looked like the bomb had detonated, effectively destroying Saren's krogan breeding facility and his research. Shepard walked around the exposed wall, trying to recognize the structure. She began to run. Similar images of rubble and blackened, ravaged ground blurred past her. Her armor did not hinder her speed, she ran effortlessly. Suddenly, she found the base camp set up by the salarian special tasks group. It was untouched by the blast, exactly as she remembered it. She walked into the first tent, half-expecting to see Captain Kirrahe looking over boxes of supplies. She found gunnery chief Ashley Williams sitting in a folding chair in the center of the floor. Ashley smiled sadly at the commander, remaining in her seat._

_ "I was wondering when you'd get here," said Ashley._

_ "I came as fast as I could," said Shepard, without a thought. "Come on, Ash. Let's get you out of here."_

_ "It's too late for that, ma'am," said Ashley. Images began to flash in Shepard's mind: Saren holding her by the throat, the view from the Normandy of Virmire as the nuclear device exploded, Kaidan's tear-filled eyes, a plaque bearing Ashley's name on the Citadel presidium. Anger, grief, and regret flooded over Shepard in waves, she struggled to catch her breath._

_ "Ash, I'm so – so _sorry_," said Shepard. Her words rang hollow and trite in her ears._

_ "I was never afraid to die for the Alliance, commander. You don't have to worry about me. It was just different than I expected, I guess," said Ashley._

_ "I had to double back. I had to make sure the geth didn't get their hands on that bomb!" said Shepard, her line in a conversation she'd had a hundred times before._

_ "We both know there's more to it than that," said Ashley. Shepard felt the guilt rise up from deep inside her. She tried to push it back, hurling her rationale at it. Planting the bomb was their primary objective, she had to defend it. They were closer to the bomb site, they'd wipe out the geth there and then find Ashley. Kaidan was the higher ranking officer with valuable biotic skills. Ashley had backup from the salarian special tasks group, Kaidan had only a few scared Alliance rookies. Kaidan had told Shepard that he cared about her by everything that he said and did. The guilt won. Shepard felt dirty and selfish. She remembered her last encounter with Kaidan on Horizon, after she had been rebuilt by Cerberus after two years of being dead herself. His eyes flared with anger at her for what he saw as betrayal of the Alliance and his trust. Thane's face flashed in her head. She thought of his embrace, of kissing his scaled lips. Her recollection of intimacy with Thane blended with her memories of being with Kaidan on the last night before her team went through the Mu relay to Ilos. Shepard's guilt raged. Ashley leaned forward in her seat, nodding her head sympathetically, as if she were privy to the commander's thoughts. "I don't know why, but I kept expecting to see you and the LT running around our barricade to the rescue," said Ashley._

_ "I wanted to, I planned to, but we were overrun by geth. Saren showed up and he almost killed us both. We only outran the blast by a minute or so," said Shepard, her voice pleading._

_ "I know, commander, I saw the Normandy take off. I was so proud. I only got scared when I realized I was alone. I mean, on a strange planet surrounded by aliens and all. I always thought I would die protecting humans," said Ashley. Tears stung Shepard's eyes, her face flushed. "I realized something, though. Everyone dies alone. So in the end, I guess it doesn't matter who's there when you go."_

_ "You deserved someone – something better than what you got," Shepard stammered, desperately trying to come up with something meaningful to say._

_ "I had someone," said Ashley, smiling. "And then you left." With that, Ashley faded away, leaving Shepard alone in the tent. The tent rattled, standing up to a rough gust of wind. Shepard could feel the heat of her tears running down her face. She turned and walked out of the tent. _

_ She pushed aside the tent flap, distracted. The sound of gunshots startled her – she followed the sound, running down paths that were oddly familiar. The ground under her feet was no longer the blackened sand of Virmire, instead, it was a road paved with gravel. Shepard stopped short, recognizing the area around her as the landfill near Mindoir. She peered around the corner and spotted a group of teenagers laughing and talking. Shepard recognized her fifteen year old self, perched on top of a dirty broken crate talking to her childhood friend, Samir. Samir had a shotgun and after school and on weekends, they would get a group together and shoot rats down at the dump. Shepard watched her teenage self grab the gun and take aim as the other kids hushed and watched. They all knew she was the best shot of the bunch, but some of the more stubborn boys wouldn't admit it because she was a girl. Shepard had visited this place many times as a kid. As an adult, her mind would not let her leave._

_ In the distance, a pillar of black smoke appeared. The kids were oblivious, laughing and congratulating each other for good shots. Shepard yelled at the group, they did not hear her. She ran up to them waving her hands, but they made no indication that they could see her. Shepard ran toward the smoke, leaving her teenage self and her old friends to their recreation. A horrible, sinking feeling hit Shepard's gut, nauseating her. She knew what she would find and she wanted to stop, to hide. Her mind kept bringing her here, and she found her feet would not stop moving her toward the smoke – toward her colony._

_ She got to the top of a hill that overlooked the edge of the settlement. Shepard walked around the pre-fabricated modular housing units, looking for signs of fire. She heard screaming and gunshots close by. Reaching for her pistol, she found she was completely unarmed. She ran toward the fray anyway, determined to help before it was too late. Several houses were on fire, the doors blocked from the outside. Shepard saw a tiny face pressed against a window, trapped in one of the burning houses. She ran up the stairs to the house and pushed against the crates blocking the door. The crates wouldn't budge. She pushed harder, with all her strength. Still, the crates wouldn't give an inch. Shepard could hear coughing and screaming from just inside the door. She beat her fists against the window, trying to break the glass, but nothing she did had any effect. The screaming stopped. Nearby, a woman shouted, "My daughter! John, where is our daughter?" Shepard turned and ran toward the woman's voice, recognizing it as her mother's._

_ She found her way easily to her childhood home. It had not been disturbed by the invaders. Inside, her mother and father looked around frantically, calling her name. Through the living room window, Shepard could see why her parents were so intent on finding her. The invaders were slavers, they were taking adolescents and teens, tying them together and leading them to their shuttles. She saw them gunning down the elderly and the very young, seeking only their targets. Shepard's mother fell to her knees, sobbing on the kitchen floor. Her father kneeled, consoling her._

_ "She's gone, John, they've taken her. I know it!" lamented Shepard's mother. Shepard stood over them both. _

_ "Mother," said Shepard, weakly. Her parents could not hear her._

_ "We don't know that, sweetheart. She's a smart girl, she's probably hiding," said her father._

_ "No, no, no! You know how brave she is! If she was still out there, she would come running to try and stop them! She's gone!" Shepard's mother collapsed into another fit of sobs. Her father patted her back, his face grim._

_ One of the slavers kicked through a window, spraying shards of glass all over the living room carpet. Shepard was disgusted to realize that this slaver was a human. He stormed through the house, picking up anything he thought was valuable and stuffing it in a big sack. Shepard followed him closely as he walked through her home. He found the kitchen and Shepard's parents. Shepard stood directly in front of him, but he looked right through her. Shepard's father put up his hands. Without a thought, the slaver shot him in the head, turned, and shot his wife. He searched Shepard's parents' bodies. Finding a credit chit on her father and nothing on her mother, he left. Shepard stared down at her parents' bodies, and around at her ransacked home. _

_ It seemed like only seconds later, her teenage self came charging through the door. She felt the pain all over again as she watched herself react to what happened. Shepard then watched herself load up Samir's shotgun and run out of the house, screaming. She followed, and watched herself as she shot one of the slavers square in the chest as he loaded up the last of his victims. Samir shouted to her from the slaver's ship, he was bound to one of the other boys. The door closed and the shuttle took off. The girl aimed carefully at the engines, but the shuttle was already too far away for the shotgun to be effective. She was left standing in the field, alone. The familiar hum of an Alliance frigate's landing gear broke the silence only moments later. Shepard walked toward the craft, observing a young lieutenant Hackett leading a squad toward the burning houses. She closed her eyes._

_ Opening her eyes, Shepard was in the Citadel tower. The council was in session, and Councilor Anderson stood proudly next to the turian councilor, smiling at Shepard. She looked around, there was no other Shepard there. Garrus and Miranda stood behind her, looking extremely satisfied._

_ "Captain Shepard, the council has reviewed the new evidence that you and your team have brought forward," said the asari councilor. "We have decided to organize all forces on the Citadel immediately against the impending reaper threat. Additionally, a call will be made to all affiliated worlds to ready their fleets in defense of their homes."_

_ "We couldn't have done this without you, captain. You may have just saved the entire galaxy, _again_," said Anderson. The council stepped down from their podium, disappearing to their chambers. Shepard turned to her squad. Garrus thumped her on the back, his face lit up in a grin. Miranda smiled and nodded appreciatively. Shepard walked with them to the docking bay, to tell the rest of the team the good news. She imagined the excited reactions of her crew and swelled with pride. They met Doctor Chakwas outside the Normandy airlock. The doctor's face was stony, she crossed her arms as the squad approached._

_ "Commander, I don't know how to say this to you," the doctor began._

_ "What's happened, doctor?" asked Miranda. Chakwas looked at Miranda sadly and shook her head. She placed a hand on Shepard's arm._

_ "I tried to get a hold of you over the comm, but Joker couldn't reach you," said Chakwas._

_ "We were in a council meeting, we had to turn the comm off," said Garrus._

_ "Shepard, it's Thane. He – he passed away not twenty minutes ago," said the Doctor. Shepard stared blankly at her, her pulse throbbing in her hears. She shrugged the doctor's hand off her shoulder and walked onto her ship, heading for the crew deck. She walked slowly, even as adrenaline surged through her veins. In her mind, she saw Thane sitting at his desk facing the drive core, enjoying his coffee and meditations like she had seen him do so many times. She pressed the green lit pad on the outside of his quarters and entered. Everything was the same as she had remembered, except Thane wasn't there. Shepard's breath came in ragged gasps, her heart pounded. Outside, she saw a few of the crew clustered around the med lab. She didn't recognize their faces. Some murmured, some wept, but they all turned toward Shepard when they saw her. The small crowd parted for her and she headed in to the med lab, hoping fervently to find it empty as usual. _

_ She found Thane. He lay on one of the beds, his hands straight at his side. Shepard's mouth twitched into a kind of smile. He looked like he was sleeping. Doctor Chakwas walked into the lab behind Shepard._

_ "He was only sorry that he had to leave without you here, Shepard," said the doctor. Shepard covered his hands with hers. They were cold, even colder than usual. Grief hit Shepard like a truck and she sagged, kneeling on the ground. She could feel the emotion welling up inside her, like a dam had burst. Tears stung at her eyes and despite herself and the crew who stood and watched, Shepard sobbed aloud._

The sound of her own choked cry woke Shepard. She sat up slowly, breathing deeply. She was covered in sweat, and her nightclothes stuck to her skin uncomfortably. Her head spun, her pulse was still rapid in her ears. Rubbing her eyes, she was slightly startled to find they were wet. The alarm clock read 06:58, two minutes until her alarm would go off. Great, she thought to herself, unamused. She looked to her side, Thane was gone. Her heart sank for a moment. She looked around her room, checked the date on her clock, squeezed her pillow. It was a dream, Shepard chanted to herself. Only a dream. Thane did not usually sleep for very long, he probably went to get breakfast. Shepard tried to shake the residual feelings from her nightmare, but she found them persistently clinging to the back of her mind. She threw off the bedsheets and stumbled to the bathroom to wash her face.

The mood was decidedly more cheerful in the mess on the crew deck. Mess sergeant Gardner was busy at his station, preparing a hot breakfast for the hungry crew. He hummed along off-key to the song that played in his headset. The smells of coffee and savory foods mingled in Shepard's nostrils. Doctor Chakwas leaned against the island in the kitchen area, talking to Jacob and picking at what looked like a pancake. Shepard hazarded a quick look inside the med bay, it was empty. She released a breath she was not consciously aware she had been holding. She walked over to the island, nodded to the doctor and Jacob, and grabbed herself one of Gardner's pancakes. Tasty, but different – Shepard picked the bread product apart with her fingers and found that the mess sergeant had chopped up bits of sausage and mixed it right in with the batter. Pancake surprise, indeed, she mused. Zaeed sat nearby at the table with a plate full of beans and toast, entertaining whomever would listen with his old war stories.

"The bastard thought he'd sold me out, but I got to the Blood Pack first, see? I said I'd owe 'em a favor if they'd help me take him down. They saw reason - a favor from me is worth a lot. Jackass never saw it coming," he said as he shoved a crumbling slice of toast in his mouth. Kelly Chambers sat across from him; nodding and smiling politely. A couple of servicemen sat on either side of Zaeed, completely absorbed in his story, encouraging him. Shepard was amused. She suspected Zaeed loved the attention and being thought of as the mercenary sage, even if he would never admit it.

Shepard meandered, hoping she wasn't making too obvious of a beeline toward life support. Touching the green entry pad, she entered Thane's quarters and found him where she had hoped. He turned around at the sound of her entry.

"Good morning, siha, do you need something?" he asked. Shepard smiled at him, sitting on the corner of his desk.

"No, nothing in particular. Just wanted to see how you were. Did you get breakfast yet?" she asked. Thane shook his head.

"I – did not find this morning's meal to my tastes, exactly. I will make something for myself later, I don't want to offend Gardner – he works hard," said Thane. Shepard chuckled understandingly and slipped off the desk. She walked over to the wall, inspecting his weapon rack.

"Hey, I know I said I'd take Grunt down with me today, but do you want to come instead? It might be fun, we could hang out – you know, get some info and bust some mercs," said Shepard, grinding her fist into her palm. She tried and failed to contain the slight wobble in her voice. Thane looked at her curiously.

"I appreciate the thought, siha, but I would remain here if that's okay with you. I received a message from Kolyat yesterday and I would like to compose a response, among other things," he said. "Besides, like you, I believe that Grunt would benefit from meeting the old krogan known as Patriarch." Shepard moved to look out at the drive core, then pulled out the chair opposite Thane and sat down. She stood up again seconds later, returning to the weapon rack. "Something is bothering you, tell me," said Thane.

"It's nothing. I just – I had a really vivid nightmare, I woke up from it this morning. You were in it, that's all," said Shepard. Thane clasped his hands together, looking at her attentively. "It's nothing, just a dream."

"Dreams can tell us a lot about ourselves, siha. In dreams, your soul and body are able to communicate freely," he paused, gauging her response. Shepard traced the outline of his rifle with a fingertip. "Perhaps you should not dismiss what you experienced as 'nothing', it obviously meant something to you," he said. Shepard watched the drive core swirl and pulse. She turned to him, a small smile on her lips.

"That's not what I expected you to say, but I'll take it," she said, considering his words. She looked as if she were about to say something, then changed her mind. "Yeah, I think Grunt will get a kick out of Patriarch, and vice versa." Thane stood up, walked over to Shepard and took both of her hands in his.

"You needn't worry about me, siha. You're the one who's about to walk into the fire. Amonkira guide you," he said. Shepard grinned and squeezed his hands.

"I'll see you later. Sooner we leave, the sooner we can get back," she said with a wink, and left.

Time to round up the squad, Shepard selected level four on the elevator monitor. Stepping out into the hall, she found Grunt was already locked and loaded. Shepard generally liked going on missions with Grunt. He was always so excited to fight. Shepard found it refreshing, even if he did encourage her more violent side.

"Battlemaster," he acknowledged Shepard as he passed by her into the elevator. She nodded at the krogan and made her way into engineering.

"Tali, do you have anything for me on Aria's data yet?" said Shepard, bringing up relevant data on her omni-tool. She looked up, and found Tali wasn't alone as she had expected. Garrus stood by Tali's station, looking simultaneously shocked and awkward. Preoccupied, Shepard continued. "Ah, Garrus, good. I was coming to see you next. We're heading station-side ASAP," said Shepard quickly. Garrus stood for a moment, stunned. "So go suit up," encouraged Shepard.

"Aye-aye, commander," he said finally, and left. Shepard watched him leave, raising an eyebrow. Shaking her head, she turned to Tali.

"Tali? Tell me you have something," said the commander.

"I – yes, Shepard. Aria is right to be paranoid. Omega's entire extranet network is unstable, compromised. What looks like firewalls are actually data mining viruses disguised as security," said Tali, showing Shepard her meaning on the monitor.

"Yesterday, Legion said he remotely hacked the station's defenses, could this be a result of that?" asked Shepard.

"No, I don't think so – the defenses are on another grid. This affects virtually all of the station's communications, though. It's a custom-made virus, Shepard. The person who uploaded it would have to be very familiar with the servers on the station," said Tali. Shepard stared at the monitor, studying Tali's research.

"Well, whomever is behind this knows a lot about Omega by now," Shepard began. "I think it'd be fair to say someone who knew about the servers enough to build a virus for them would have to be working for Aria."

"It's a solid speculation, Shepard. I haven't been able to find any information on the user who uploaded the virus, or even much about the virus itself. I can only tell you what it's doing. If you went into the server room, you would be able to download the info we're missing. However, I doubt you'll be able to just walk in," said Tali.

"Heh, you're probably right. At least we're getting somewhere," said Shepard, clapping her hands together. "Thanks for that, Tali. I'll be in radio contact. We'll try to get into the server room today, but that depends on what we can find out about the Suns defenses."

"I'll be here when you need me, Shepard," said Tali. Shepard nodded at the quarian and left her to her work.

Shepard suited up and armed herself quickly. She felt almost wrong to be excited about the prospect of spilling some merc blood on Omega. There were several conflicting ideas buzzing around in her head of how she should be feeling after her battle with the collectors. Some ideas were put there by others: reporters, friends, even her crew. The thought of taking it easy for a while did have a certain appeal to her. She wanted to go somewhere with Thane where they wouldn't have to worry about getting shot at; she felt she owed him that much. She could have said no to Aria and flown right on through to the Citadel. Shepard had explained her reasoning to herself and her crew multiple times, but after she saw the situation for herself, she couldn't have walked away. As much as she wanted to be the brave and shrewd military strategist the vids portrayed, deep inside the commander was still an angry, vengeful teenager who wanted to rid the galaxy of evil. Shepard struggled to keep that part of her in check, but every once in a while something would happen that stirred up those old feelings. Crossing the CIC, Shepard could see Garrus and Grunt waiting near the airlock. She smiled inwardly, ready for action.

**A/N**: Thanks so much for reading! I would love to know what you think about my story so far. Unicorns and leprechauns appear to those who take the time to leave reviews – this is fact.


	7. Sensitive Information

"Ugh. What kind of krogan hangs out in a place like this?" asked Grunt, looking around at the neon atmosphere in Afterlife. Shepard noticed that his eyes lingered briefly on an asari dancing with a pole above their heads. She led Garrus and Grunt to the door at the back of the club that led to the lower level. The door whispered shut behind them, but they could still hear an echo of the music inside. At least it was cooler in the hall, she thought, and less crowded. Shepard would never say that she was claustrophobic, but crowds like the one at Afterlife put her more than a little on edge. Steeling herself, she opened the door to Afterlife's lower level. Blaring electronic rhythms assaulted her hears, she could feel the vibration of the bass in her hardsuit. Shepard waved her squad to the sunken door nearby, indicating their destination. She scooted, slid by, and otherwise maneuvered her way through dancing and partying patrons to the door. Once inside Patriarch's den, she found she could finally breathe.

Patriarch paced, talking animatedly to a couple of batarians. "It was a good fight. I watched the life drain out of that turian general myself – I remember it from time to time. Good for the spirits," he said. Noticing the batarians' attention shift to the well-armed newcomers, Patriarch turned around. He opened his arms widely when he recognized Shepard, his voice boomed, "Commander Shepard! My krantt, back from death again I hear!" The old krogan shook Shepard's hand vigorously. When he broke his grip, Shepard wondered if she would ever regain feeling in her hand. "I had heard you were on Omega, of course. I'm glad you found the time to visit old Patriarch."

"It's good to see you again, Patriarch," said Shepard. She found a seat on a bench and crossed her legs casually. "Grunt, this is the Patriarch. Patriarch, Urdnot Grunt. You remember Garrus." Shepard jerked her head toward her turian companion. The krogans looked each other over; Patriarch with subdued curiosity, and Grunt with barely concealed contempt.

"An Urdnot, eh? I used to be a friend to that clan, once upon a time. Strange, you do not bear the Urdnot crest on your armor," said Patriarch.

"I kept the armor that was given to me by the warlord Okeer, my – creator," said Grunt, unable to better describe Okeer's relation to himself. Grunt did not harbor any sentimentality for his creator, but neither did he have any special allegiance to his new clan.

"Ah yes, I have heard of you. It honors me to finally meet you, Grunt," said Patriarch. Grunt huffed and crossed his arms. Shepard wondered what she had expected if not this. She looked at Garrus, he shrugged his armored shoulders. Patriarch turned to the commander. "Commander, I assume there is more to your visit than just these introductions."

"Indeed. We were hoping you could help us out with some information. _Sensitive_ information," said Shepard, with a pointed glance at the few bystanders in the Patriarch's private room.

"Ah," he said simply. "Fin, the door. Everyone else, out." Patriarch's fans shuffled out of the room without complaint. Shepard wondered briefly how often they were asked to leave. Fin, one of the batarians, closed the door behind him. Shepard glanced around the room, scanning briefly for any visible bugs. Satisfied, she reclined in her seat. "You're here about the Blue Suns, of course," said Patriarch.

"Yes," said Shepard. She was not going to bother questioning his knowledge of her quest. News traveled fast on Omega, and even faster when the news was of valuable interest.

"You realize that I am Aria's advisor, I would have told her everything I know," said Patriarch. Shepard raised an eyebrow.

"She's not listening to you, is she, Patriarch? The breach in her defenses has got her paranoid," said Garrus from the corner. The old krogan looked over at Garrus, narrowing his red eyes.

"She _has _cut me out – in a manner of speaking. She makes a show of keeping everything looking normal to outsiders, but she's basically running this whole operation by herself now. Of course, if anyone knew that for sure, it would all be over today."

"So why not take over? You could be running this station. Why stay down in this hole?" asked Grunt, his deep voice accusing.

"How do you propose I do that, huh? Sure, I have contacts that I have not shared with Aria, but the most valuable are still loyal to her," Patriarch crossed the room, gesturing wildly. "I know what you're thinking. You're thinking I've become complacent, turned into an old coward! Don't think that I haven't already accused myself of this! Part of me wants to see Aria brought down - the stupid part that holds the old grudge. The smart part of me knows that I could not do it myself with what I have now, and this is why I have not acted. However, I also know that a takeover by the Suns would be disastrous." Grunt did not look mollified by Patriarch's explanation. The old krogan found his seat again and took a sip from a large glass of green liquid. "You're young, Urdnot Grunt. I remember what that was like, even if it was centuries ago for me. You want to kill everything you see; no challenge is too big. Savor that feeling, so that you may remember it if you live long enough for people to disrespect you in your old age."

Grunt mumbled something that sounded a lot like "pathetic old man, lost his quad" to Shepard. The commander ignored Grunt and looked intently at Patriarch, inching forward in her seat.

"No one here has come to disrespect you, Patriarch. What we've come for is information on the Blue Suns defenses. Anything you could tell us would be helpful," said Shepard. She tried her best to keep from sounding patronizing, but she wasn't sure if she succeeded. In the corner, Garrus rolled his eyes.

"I can't tell you much, obviously. I do know they've been heavily recruiting around the apartment blocks and the markets. They're hoping numbers alone will give them the edge, but they're fools. Giving a bunch of overeager kids guns does nothing but shorten their lifespans. Alpha isn't doing everything wrong, though. They've got mechs, loads of them – and firepower. You're not going to be able to take their base head on," said Patriarch, shaking his large head.

"Where is the base?" asked Garrus.

"Well, it's where it always was. Near where you holed up not too long ago, _Archangel,"_ Patriarch glared at Garrus, then turned to Shepard. "You know the warehouse."

"So Legion was right," said Shepard to no one in particular. "Is there anything else you can tell us about their firepower?"

"You're going to need all the heavy weapons you've got. I don't keep a list of their inventory around here, Shepard. That's the most I can tell you." Shepard looked thoughtful for a moment, trying to remember what else she wanted from the old krogan. Her face brightened, remembering.

"Do you know anything about the main server room?" asked Shepard, hopeful. Patriarch smiled widely.

"I suspected something was going on in there, but your curiosity confirms it. There has been some strange interference around the extranet routers, but it's difficult to pin down. I had my man Fin get me the security codes to the server room earlier today. Hopefully they still work. You are welcome to find out - they are yours now." Shepard raised her eyebrows and looked around at her team. Garrus' face was unreadable. Grunt paced in the far corner, grinding his fist into his palm. Shepard turned back to Patriarch.

"Thank you. I think this will help us out," she said.

"We should get there soon, who knows how often they change those codes," said Garrus.

"Good point. Thanks again, Patriarch," said Shepard.

"I am glad that I am able to repay the debt I owe you," said the old krogan ceremonially. He brought up his omni-tool and transmitted the codes to Shepard's. "Let me know what you find when you check out the server room. I have many theories as to what might be there, but I want to know which one is right." Shepard nodded. Grunt banged his fist on the door, signaling his desire to leave to the bodyguard stationed outside. Fin obliged, opening the door from the outside. The loud electronic beats burst into the room. Garrus and Grunt led the way, Shepard followed. "Commander," said Patriarch to Shepard's back. She turned around. "I don't know what Aria told you she wanted, but when you find the traitor – I think it would be best for everyone if you were the one to kill him."

"Noted," said Shepard. She saluted the Patriarch and followed her squad out of the club.

* * *

Afterlife never closed, but there were lulls, and no one stayed in the club forever – not even Aria. It was 03:00 when Patriarch finally left to retire to his home for the night, such as it was. He made his habitual sweep for bugs or explosives, turned off the lights to his private room, and locked the door. He was a tired old man and didn't move as fast as he used to, not that many krogan are known to be light on their feet. He was glad to see Shepard again, even if he had his doubts about the company she kept. He hoped she made it off Omega alive. It would be insulting for a warrior like her to be cut down by a bunch of mercenary upstarts with big guns. He waved to a pretty asari dancer as he left and she rewarded him with a smile and a shimmy.

Always keeping a watchful eye, the bartender made his way to a patron hunched over an empty glass on the far side of the bar. The bartender leaned over and whispered something to the patron. The patron took out a credit chit, placed it under the empty glass and pushed himself away from the bar. The bartender pocketed the credit chit and disinterestedly went back to polishing glasses. The patron made his way casually toward the room the old krogan came from.

He'd had a long day already, and he was tired of taking orders and being yelled at. Alpha said things were going to be different when he was in charge, but they didn't feel any different yet. He hoped he would get some kind of bonus for completing his task in Afterlife, especially after all the complications he'd had to deal with. No thanks to anyone who was supposed to have his back. He couldn't believe another batarian would risk his neck over some old krogan. The mission started out easy enough: convince the batarian bodyguard that his family's lives were in danger so he'd plant the bug. No matter that they couldn't actually locate the man's family in enough time to make it a more convincing threat. The bodyguard folded like a sheet of paper. The patron hadn't expected the bodyguard, Fin, to turn around and try to be some kind of hero. He almost got his head blown off, and for what? The patron was no assassin, which is why he was expecting to be compensated for having to take care of the unruly bodyguard. It wasn't as if hiding bodies on Omega was particularly difficult or unusual, but it can still be risky business – especially with the hero of the citadel walking around.

The patron didn't have anything against Commander Shepard. In fact, he was impressed by the things she'd done what with taking out the Collectors and killing that reaper. She was just inconvenient to have on Omega, especially if she was planning on backing up Aria. The patron input the code to the door and slipped inside. He had a chance to scope the place out earlier, even if it meant he had to listen to that insufferable old krogan reminiscing about his glory days. The patron brought up his omni-tool. A blinking light flashed on a screen, glowing brighter as he neared the sofa. He pushed the sofa aside, scanning the wall. A few thumps on the wall sounded a hollow spot and he pressed his fingers against the sides of the tile. Eventually, it clicked open revealing a tiny electronic device – the bug. The man palmed the thing and replaced the furniture. He wasn't sure if it would matter tomorrow if the Patriarch found his room exactly as he'd left it, but he wasn't usually one to take chances. He plugged the bug into his omni-tool, listening to its recording of the afternoon's events. Annoyed, he forwarded through the bits he was there for, and listened to the entirety of the Patriarch's meeting with Commander Shepard and her crew. He put his hand to his earpiece.

"Base? This is Agent X, I have the recording," he said into his communicator. He waited a moment longer than he expected for a response.

"And?" An annoyed voice on the other end replied simply.

"You want me to just tell you over the comm?" he asked, uncertain. The man, Agent X, wanted to leave the room and the club, but he didn't want to be overheard as he walked around. His hands were cold and clammy as he replayed the recording.

"The bodyguard?" asked the disembodied voice.

"Taken care of," said the man.

"You've done well, Agent X. You will be compensated for going above and beyond," said the voice. The line closed with a beep and the man blinked at his communicator. He pulled his hood over his head nervously and turned to leave. About to open the door, he was surprised to see it already opening. Agent X found himself standing face to face with Patriarch. The krogan raged and charged and the small batarian without asking any questions. Patriarch crushed him against the wall where he fell limp. The bug rolled out of his hand onto the floor. Patriarch kicked the intruder to make sure he was out, then shot him in the head for good measure. He picked up the electronic device from the floor and looked at it, disgustedly. Coward spies, he thought. He mentally kicked himself for not being more thorough earlier. He pocketed the device. At his desk, he found the data pad he had come back for and pocketed that as well.

Leaving what he considered his office, Patriarch flagged the bartender down and jerked his thumb toward his door. There was a mess in there that needed to be cleaned up. The bartender nodded, picked up a tray of cleaning supplies, and made his way into Patriarch's room. Patriarch listened to the recording on the bug, confirming his suspicions. Alpha was planning to set a trap for Shepard, no doubt. Patriarch would be damned to help out that upstart kid in any way, especially against his will. The Suns have their damned fingers everywhere, he grumbled to himself. He was beginning to consider the revamped mercenary group as a worthy adversary. Bad news for them. The Patriarch headed back down to his apartment. He wondered how long it would take to polish up his old armor.

**A/N**: _Thank you so much for reading/subscribing/reviewing/favorite-ing! Hearing that you like what's going on makes my day! (Really, it does.)_


	8. Out of the Frying Pan

Shepard had known Garrus for a long time by either turian or human standards. They'd been through hell together on a couple different occasions. She knew his moods, and she was moderately proud that she was able to read the alien so well. His body language was telling her that he was upset, even if his words weren't. Shepard wanted to be sly so as not to provoke him or cause him to shut down. She casually fell into step with him, cleaning her weapons next to him and working up to conversation.

"What's the matter with you?" asked Grunt. Apparently it didn't take Shepard's sensitivity to the turian's feelings to assess something was wrong. So much for being slick.

"We're walking into a trap, that's what's the matter," said Garrus. Shepard nodded in agreement.

"Maybe, but I don't think Patriarch would set us up," Shepard interjected. Garrus grunted, hunched over his sniper rifle. He was always meticulous, but Shepard suspected his weapon was already clean enough.

"If Aria has a mole, what makes you think it didn't dig all the way down to Patriarch?" asked Garrus, as he adjusted his scope.

"I'm not disagreeing with you, Garrus. I'm just saying I don't think Patriarch believes he's giving us faulty information." Shepard knew from experience that diplomacy and tact only went so far with Garrus. Sooner or later she'd have to pull rank. She hoped it wouldn't be sooner. She looked over their stock of weapons and ammo. They'd brought out the big guns. They were big enough for the collectors, anyway. Shepard looked wistfully at her stock of Cerberus-issued weapons. The Alliance outfitted their soldiers with the very best, but there were some things they just couldn't get away with. Some things, like handing out prototype alien technology to their special ops units. Shepard sighed, there were definitely some things she was going to miss about working in the private sector. She hefted her favored missile launcher over her shoulder and reached for her geth-made plasma shotgun. She paused for a moment, thinking. "Wait, wasn't going to see Patriarch _your_ idea in the first place?" she asked Garrus.

"That's not even the issue, Shepard!" he waved his hand dismissively. "Those bastards are stringing us along. It's crumbs here and clues there – and we're walking right down the path they want! They're practically _herding_ us. Meanwhile, Scratch could be dead by now. Who knows what they're putting him through, especially if he's not cooperating," said Garrus. Shepard hadn't forgotten about the human mechanic held hostage by the Suns - the man who had once been Garrus' friend. She knew they were working on borrowed time, but she also knew it would be foolish to rush a job like this. That's how mistakes got made. There was more at stake than just one hostage.

"Well something's up, but we won't find out what it is by sitting around talking about it," said Grunt. He'd been ready for the past twenty minutes, pacing back and forth not trying to conceal his impatience. Shepard looked down, triple checking that her kinetic shield barrier was fully charged.

"He's right," she said to Garrus' back. "We can't delay and we can't rush it. We get into the main computer and we've found our traitor – hopefully. If it's a trap, we need to be ready. I need you both to stay focused, no matter what happens." Shepard brought up her omni-tool. Tali had sent over a scanning program she created for them to upload to Omega's computer core when they got there. It was supposed to scan for the program that did what she described on board the Normandy. EDI had sent the station specs to her along with the additional data that Legion was able to hack out of Omega's systems. EDI had remote control of the station's defense systems. Shepard noted that the Normandy's AI could access defense turrets on the station's exterior, fire extinguishers, and airlocks. She tried to think quickly to integrate the station into her battle strategy. It seemed it was going to be up to her to improvise. She watched her team gear up for their trek into the server room. She could admit she knew less than she would have liked to about what she was getting her team into, but there wasn't time to be as thorough as she usually was. Shepard just hoped they were prepared.

Once suited, the squad finally made its way toward their destination following the map provided by EDI on Shepard's omni-tool. The server room was in the middle of the station, so the team had to take a series of elevators down in order to get there. Thankfully for the team, operating the elevators didn't require any kind of security pass codes. Shepard estimated from looking at the map and keeping track of their location that they were almost directly beneath Afterlife. They were also uncomfortably close to the Blue Suns warehouse. The team stepped out of the elevator onto the quiet maintenance floor. The contrast between the bustling main decks of the space station and below was startling. Shepard found it peaceful, but she wasn't foolish enough to be lulled into a false sense of security. Ahead, Shepard saw a door with an entry pad that glowed orange. The plaque on the wall next to it read "Server Core". This was the place, all right. There was no sign of anyone in the hall as the team stepped out of the elevator, but that hardly meant anything. The atmosphere was tense, and getting tenser by the second. If they were walking into a trap, approaching the server room doors could just be the spring.

* * *

Patriarch was torn between rage and excitement. Rage, because he couldn't believe that the Suns had actually gotten into his office. Excitement, because he now had an excuse to involve himself. He wasn't about to let a group of mercenaries newly led by an amateur use him to get to Shepard or anyone else. He would show the Suns that they've messed with the wrong krogan. He would do this, or risk his reputation falling further into the "has been" category. Patriarch moved quickly toward his apartment. He knew where he was going after he collected his weapons and armor from his place, but he didn't know if he would get there in time.

He stopped outside his door, noticing a slumped figure in the shadows nearby. He moved closer to inspect the figure, it was hooded and unmoving. Patriarch nudged the body with his foot. The figure fell over and into the light. It was Fin – both pairs of his eyes were still open, a look of pain etched on his elongated batarian features. There was a krogan blade buried in his chest. Patriarch instantly realized how the bug came to be planted inside his office. He wondered how the Suns got to the poor kid. Debt, maybe? Or just the threat of violence? It didn't matter now. The old krogan liked Fin, he was a good kid: not too ambitious, listened to directions, knew the old man's drink preferences. He wasn't terribly attached to him personally, but he was sorry to get him mixed up in business that was way over his head. Patriarch shook his head and bent over to remove the blade from his employee.

It seemed that Alpha was trying to get to him now on a more personal level. He didn't need to wonder why. If the Suns were bent on taking over Omega, they would need him to stay out of their way. He was Aria's advisor. They wouldn't be content with simply removing her, they needed to kill all of the roots she had dug into the station. Patriarch would not be dug out quite so easily. The krogan blade in Fin's chest was a message to him that his employee's death had been his fault. He scoffed at their attempt to guilt him into submission. He had seen scores of men, good soldiers and better men than Fin, die because of him – directly or otherwise. Patriarch knew who he was, but apparently Alpha did not have as good of a grasp on Patriarch's personality profile as he thought. Unless he thought Patriarch had gotten soft in his old age. The krogan felt the rage welling inside of him, running like fire through his veins. It made him feel stronger, younger.

He knew who he was, or rather, who he used to be. Shepard had once chastised him for letting others think he had become weak. Initially, he shrugged it off as a human female speaking from ignorance. It took weeks of her words rattling around in his bony head to make him realize that she had been right. He had liked her and her team for acting as his krantt, fighting on his behalf when the assassins came for his life. He had come to respect her after she left, when he thought about her words and actions while she was on Omega. Shepard was a soldier, and a good one. He had been a good soldier once upon a time. Well, a good mercenary anyway. In a way, the small human female with the blood-colored hair reminded him of a younger version of himself. He vowed to use the rumors floating around Omega about his renewed power to his advantage. He flexed his new muscle and began to feel intimidating again and less like one of Aria's cautionary tales.

He was working his way to being viewed as a real threat when news struck that a refinery had been destroyed on Zorya claiming hundreds of lives, including most of the Blue Suns and most notably their leader, Vido Santiago. The Suns remaining on Omega had run around chaotically for the first few cycles, taking out their frustrations on innocents like schoolyard bullies. A week later they had suddenly all gone quiet. No one heard from them or saw any of them in uniform or sporting the characteristic Suns tattoo (or conspicuous removal of said tattoo) anywhere on the station – at least from what Aria's intel could see. It seemed to Patriarch that it only took the space of two weeks for the remaining Suns on Omega to regroup and start recruiting in force.

That's when the violence in the markets started, and when Aria began to find that her stock was dropping on her station. Shipments were going missing, credits were mysteriously vanishing from right under her nose. Aria immediately suspected Patriarch, who had so badly wanted to be considered a threat he had not quite thought through what to do if he found himself in that position again. Aria challenged him to an obviously unfair fight knowing the krogan was willing to die for his honor. Her men outnumbered Patriarch's three to one, and after a brief skirmish, she left Patriarch to live once again with the knowledge of her superiority. He kicked himself all the way back into his little hole of an office in the underbelly of Afterlife. It became obvious that Patriarch was not involved when the violence and theft began to escalate until the Blue Suns came right out and announced their intentions by taking over the market in a show of force. Aria had cut out practically everyone who had delivered her intel, but to Patriarch, she delivered the most grievous insult one can give to an enemy: she ignored him.

Patriarch had relived that embarrassment every day until now. The chagrin made his jaw ache from clenching. He clipped his collapsed weapons into their slots on his battered and scarred old mercenary armor, his face grim. He loaded up ammo and an extra shield battery. He could feel the tingle of his biotic implant working on his nerves. Light flicked at his fingertips as he worked, dark energy swirling around his large scaled hands. He moved efficiently, like he had been preparing for a moment like this for quite some time. He was ready. Shepard didn't know that he had disgraced himself once again and she didn't need to. He was going to prove to himself and everyone else that he was a force to be reckoned with, that he was still krogan. The old krogan's face cracked in a dark grin. He was beginning to feel like his old self again.

* * *

"Have I mentioned that I don't like this, Shepard?" asked Garrus as he input the security codes Patriarch provided into the server room door panel. Shepard and Grunt stood watching on either side of the turian for any sign of movement in the corridor, there was none.

"Yes, and I've noted it in my log," the commander responded. "You can see for yourself when we get back to the Normandy." Garrus huffed, finishing the input code. The light on the door panel switched from orange to green and swished open. Shepard silently motioned her squad to flank her as she took point going into the room. She took a deep breath and threw up a barrier shield as she led her team in.

It was warm inside, even warmer than Afterlife on a busy night, but much quieter. The room was filled with rows and columns of server machines forming a grid, glowing and whirring. Shepard walked slowly, keeping a sharp eye out for any sign of trouble. It was an ideal place to hide or be hidden. Not only would the servers provide physical cover, but it would be foolish for anyone to fire a weapon in the room that was responsible for keeping the station's life support going. They were, for all intents and purposes, in Omega's brain. Shepard signaled for her squad to lower their weapons and halt. They were in, but finding the data they needed might be difficult to find in the maze of identical machines.

"Any idea what to do now?" asked Shepard. She looked over at her shoulder to Garrus.

"There's got to be a control panel in here somewhere. Probably along one of the walls. Or maybe in the center," he said, uncertain.

"We should split up and look for it, there's obviously no one else here," said Grunt.

"I think you're right, Grunt. Okay, we split up. Keep in radio contact. If you have to fire your weapons, just make sure you're not aiming at one of these things – I don't want to be responsible for a whole deck getting spaced or anything like that," said Shepard. Garrus and Grunt nodded and took off in opposite directions, headed for the perimeter of the room. Shepard looked at the ceiling to try and find her way into the center of the room, per Garrus' suggestion. She noticed the ceiling had a grid inlaid in its semi-reflective surface and she wondered if that's what it was used for. As she walked, she tried to look for any distinguishing markings on any of the server boxes, but she could find none. It baffled her how anyone who came to work down here could locate any one individual machine. She heard Garrus yell "found it" off to her left. She shook her head, annoyed, and put her hand to her earpiece to activate her comm. Loud static assaulted her ears, startling her. She cursed to herself. Of course there would be too much interference in a place like this to use the radio channels. So much for giving Garrus an earful. He probably had some choice words to say to her. She could see his hand waving above the boxes and walked toward him, getting a visual when she found the right column to walk down.

"Didn't think about the interference getting in the way of radio contact, did you?" asked Garrus smugly as Shepard approached.

"And I suppose you did? You should speak up next time, I didn't quite hear you back when that would have been relevant," said Shepard. She raised an eyebrow at him, and he returned to studying the control panel's layout. Grunt made his way up one of the columns to join them. He seemed tense or impatient to the commander. Probably a little of both, she guessed. She kept her distance. He continued to keep watch, his finger twitching near the trigger of his shotgun.

"I'm accessing the list of individual user uploads to the server, which should narrow our search down. We don't have the exact day the virus was uploaded, which would be the most helpful," said Garrus, his voice trailing off and his fingertips flicking through the data on the screen. "Okay, uploading Tali's program now. We should have something soon." Garrus squinted at the screen.

Shepard looked around him to view the screen – there was a lot of data to sift through, and Shepard was glad to have Garrus there to do the tedious tech work. He had the patience and finesse with technology that she sometimes lacked when under pressure. "I might have to access another system to take a look at the processes, see if I can find a specific – hello!" Garrus stopped short and zoomed in on a bit of data. Grunt looked over for a moment, but was uninterested in the finding.

Shepard moved in next to Garrus, looking at the screen. Tali's scanning program had created a list of possible files. At the top was a small, unassuming file named "". Small enough to have been easily overlooked by anyone, except that Tali's program had clearly highlighted the file as performing all of the tasks she observed in the fake firewall virus. Shepard read the file description thoroughly, she was fairly sure this was the culprit. She looked for the user name who uploaded the thing and was only mildly surprised to find she recognized it.

"Anto? That's one of Aria's main bodyguards, he was there the last time we saw her," said Shepard, taking a closer look. Garrus touched the file name and it opened a new window showing the program's processes.

"Yeah, this is the right one. Look there, the program's interacting with basically every source of incoming information to the station," said Garrus, pointing to the screen. "This is what we expected to find, isn't it? I'd call this pretty conclusive evidence, Shepard."

"All right, download that to your omni-tool, but keep looking. I want to be sure that we've got the right one," said Shepard. Garrus activated his omni-tool, bringing the lit display up to the screen to download the needed data. He touched the control panel's screen to begin the transfer, and it turned a bright red. There was a slamming noise followed by the faint sound of an alarm in the distance.

"What was that?" asked Grunt. He didn't wait for them to answer, he trotted off to investigate the perimeter of the room. Shepard looked over at Garrus, and he gave her a thumbs up.

"Got it," he said simply, putting away his omni-tool. He followed Shepard as she tracked Grunt through the grid. They soon found what the slamming noise had been. Thick metal doors had blocked their exit, sealing them in. Shepard squeezed between Grunt and Garrus to get to the security panel. She attempted to hack their way out using every technique she knew, but the door wouldn't budge. Dozens of scenarios flashed through her mind as she thought of what the Suns were preparing for them while they were trapped in the room. Would they rush at them? Bomb the place? Gas, mechs, what? They wouldn't risk putting the whole station on lock down or worse, disabling key systems, would they?

"Can we get a hold of the Normandy?" asked Shepard, still trying to crack the security system. Grunt and Garrus each tried their comms to get through to their ship.

"There's too much interference in here! We could try boosting the signal -" said Garrus.

"Then do it now!" said the commander, her voice raised. She wasn't going to risk waiting for the Suns cavalry to arrive, not in the sensitive server core. Grunt fired his shotgun at the metal door at close range. It dented the door slightly, but mostly it just startled Shepard and Garrus. Shepard glared at the krogan, who pointed his weapon at the ground once more and shrugged.

"It was worth a try," said Grunt. Garrus turned to jog back toward the control panel. Shepard and Grunt followed close behind. He activated the terminal and searched the settings. Shepard watched his facial expressions change from frustrated to hopeful as he found something on the screen that he liked. She guessed he was trying to sync his comm with Omega's system, but she didn't want to distract him with questions. With a few keystrokes and some syncing between the devices, he held his comm up to his ear and spoke.

"Normandy, this is shore party, do you copy?" said Garrus. The squad waited for a tense moment before Joker's voice issued through the speakers on the control panel.

"Loud and clear, Garrus," said Joker casually. Shepard held out her hand for Garrus' comm device and he handed it over.

"Joker, EDI, we're in the server core in the center of the station. There are metal security doors blocking our exits. We need them open – now!" said Shepard.

"Right away, commander," chimed EDI. To her left Shepard saw the nearest security door opening and heard the alarms in the hall fall silent. The squad ran for the door, not knowing if their being open was permanent. Reaching the doors, they were able to exit into the hall. The cool air felt good on Shepard's face. She knew they couldn't linger there, but she figured they could catch their breath for a moment. She experimentally tapped on her comm and found the interference from the server room was gone. She contacted the Normandy and handed Garrus' comm link back to him.

"Thanks, EDI. If there's anyone around, tell them we could use the back up. Things are about to get heated down here. We're headed toward the Suns base, I'm forwarding the location now," she said, and tapped at her omni-tool.

"I'll let them know, commander," said Joker. "Be careful, okay?" he added.

"Will do. I'll be in contact. Shepard out," she said, putting her comm away.

"That wasn't much of a trap," said Grunt.

"Are you complaining?" asked Garrus, perplexed.

"Let's not get too excited," said Shepard. "I say we rush them now, while they're still figuring out what's happened. Maybe we'll be able to catch them off guard."

"I like it," said Grunt. He jumped and ground his fist into his palm. Shepard turned to Garrus for his input.

"Right behind you, Shepard," he said. Shepard nodded at him. She turned her attention to the map she had on her omni-tool, looking for all the possible routes to the warehouse. She figured if the Suns were planning to meet their supposed trapped quarry in the server room, they would take the most direct route. Shepard traced an alternate path that led to the side of the warehouse opposite the server room. With a small squad, it was important to flank as much as possible. She hoped they'd have the advantage by coming in through the back way. Taking point once again, Shepard began to navigate her team around the unfamiliar hallways. She was excited, and that excitement grew with each step she took toward the warehouse and her goal. She wanted to find the hostage alive, just like she wanted to find the mercenaries stumbling and unprepared. But what she wanted most was to see the look on Anto's face when she told him the jig was up.

**A/N**: _Once again, thanks for reading. Your feedback makes me happy! Folks who leave reviews will get cake._


	9. Into the Fire

Letting out a frustrated yell, Anto kicked an empty crate over the balcony which served as his vantage point in the Blue Suns warehouse. Below him he heard hurried footsteps and a shout, followed by the crash of the crate on the ground. He was pacing, thinking, and sweating as both pairs of his eyes were glued on the security monitors tracking Shepard's position. The human commander had somehow opened the emergency doors to the server core - where he'd had her conveniently contained for a whole two minutes or so. He watched the monitor as she and her squad moved up the hallways toward the warehouse's southern entrance. Good, let them come, he thought to himself. It was easier than chasing her squad through the hallways. Still, he was frustrated. He'd had them contained! Now it was just going to get messy.

"You weren't supposed to actually let them download that data, you moron! And how the hell did they get out?" he yelled across the room to another batarian sitting in front of an open terminal.

"I don't know! What did you want me to do, boss? Shut the whole station down?" asked the flustered man. Anto chucked a datapad at the man's head and flung his arms up in frustration. He marched over to the edge of the balcony and barked orders at the scattered groups of men below, sending them to the southern entrance to find cover. They ran to their assigned positions, grabbing their weapons and extinguishing their cigarettes. His job had been simple enough – keep Shepard's team down there and distracted long enough for the show to start upstairs. This was making him look bad. He checked his watch. They could hold her for long enough, no problem – he just didn't want to have to do that at the potential cost of his life. The Suns were so close to having total control of the station. To lose it now would just be – he didn't even want to think about it.

Anto was used to things deviating from the plan and having to improvise, but now he was facing a fight with Commander Shepard and her squad of elite commandos. He wasn't used to that. He knew her by reputation and the few times he'd conversed with her in Afterlife. He saw the aftermath when she got Archangel out of the sticky situation he'd gotten himself into. Every merc group on the station lost significant amounts of men, and they were only up against four people who had the advantage of a good location. He had six seasoned mercenaries under his command, along with fifteen more relatively untrained recruits. Between them all, they had a generous stash of weapons and ammo. All the good stuff was upstairs, but they had more than enough to do some real damage with what they had on hand. Shepard was about to walk into their base blind. He had the advantage of the security cameras that tracked her movements. His team had the better position this time around.

Anto started to feel less anxious. He had her out-manned, out-gunned, and out-planned. The human commander may have fought some impressive battles in her past, but that was then. He was finally in his rightful place commanding the Suns and he wasn't about to lose it by getting killed. Especially not by a human hired by Aria – it insulted him to think about it. Shepard thought her squad would give them a surprise? She had another thing coming. He picked up a grenade launcher from the weapons rack at his side and balanced it on his shoulder as he knelt behind cover.

* * *

"Stay close when we get in there. Hopefully they're distracted, but there might be stragglers, so stay sharp," said Shepard as they rounded the corner to the warehouse door.

"What happens when we find Anto, Shepard? Do we take him alive?" asked Garrus. Shepard considered that for a moment.

"Yes. I'd like to ask him a few questions. If you have no other options, take him out. The main objective here is to neutralize the Suns, remember," said Shepard. Garrus and Grunt nodded their confirmation of her orders and followed her through the door to the southern entrance of the warehouse. Shepard looked around to try and locate the Suns forces, but she couldn't see anyone from her position at the door. She expected them to be mobilizing on the opposite end of the room. There was a vehicle, but it was unoccupied. She heard running footsteps to her left and thought she heard a satisfied sounding "hrmph" right before she saw the flare of a grenade launcher from just above her line of sight.

She couldn't get out her order to take cover soon enough, all she could manage was a frenzied hand signal and a panicked look back at her squad. The grenade detonated a heap of packing crates about ten paces in front of the commander. The blast was powerful, throwing them all off their feet and engulfing the entire area in fire and falling debris. Smoke plumed around the new crater in the floor made by the impact of the grenade. Tiles and chunks of the floor base were scattered everywhere. The smoke subsided, but there was still a substantial amount of dust in the air. Anto looked around thoroughly, his heart pounding, but he couldn't see the remains of any of Shepard's team from where he stood. Somewhat relieved, he set his grenade launcher beside him and selected a heavy pistol from his weapon rack.

"You and you, down there!" shouted Anto, pointing at two of the merc recruits in cover on the ground level. They looked up at him. "Get out there, now! Find them and make sure they're dead." The recruits, one human and one batarian, hopped out from their cover positions and went about scanning the room, though their visibility was hampered by the fine dust still clouding the air. They scanned the room together in grid form. Being very thorough, they were not about to disappoint their commander on what must have been their first official battle order as mercenaries. A chunk of twisted metal loosed itself from a nearby wall and fell to the floor with a loud crash. The two searching mercs jumped, startled. The human hesitated a moment, then walked slowly over toward the noise to investigate, both hands shaking on his brand new pistol. The batarian turned to watch his partner walk away, but he was certain he saw the bodies fly in the opposite direction. He scratched the fresh Blue Suns tattoo on his neck before heading off, separating from his partner. He kicked at the bigger pieces of debris he came across, looking for any sign of the intruders. Getting closer to the other side of the crater, the batarian mercenary squinted, thinking he saw the dust settling on a human form. He went to investigate, and sure enough he found the human commander. Her head and shoulders were exposed, but the rest of her body was buried under a large chunk of debris. Forgetting his protocol, he waved his arm in the air to get the attention of his commander.

"Commander Anto! I found -", the batarian merc's cry was cut off by a thunderous shotgun blast square to his chest. The mercenary fell, revealing Patriarch in blood red armor lining up his next shot. Patriarch rapidly took out two of the Suns as they leaned out of cover to see what had happened. A shot from above glanced his shoulder. He grimaced and saw a flash of blue armor as it ducked behind a crate. Patriarch crouched near Shepard's body, using the debris for effective cover. The Suns on the ground floor were firing relentlessly at him. He couldn't risk breaking cover, but he didn't know how long the chunk of flooring he was using would hold out against the onslaught of bullets.

To the right of his position, Patriarch heard a deep voice bellow, "I am krogan!" followed by a spray of fire aimed at the Suns' flank. The enemy fire ceased long enough for Patriarch to lift the debris off Shepard, toss her over his shoulder, and get a couple of good shots in before he relocated the commander to a safer place in between a few sturdy-looking crates. Patriarch leaned his head down to listen for Shepard's breath. He was satisfied to hear her steady, if faint, respiration. Grunt exploited his advantage on a clump of mercenaries who had their attention on Patriarch with rapid fire from his automatic rifle. Killing three of the mercenaries, Grunt turned to check the area for anyone else who wanted the honor of dying at his hand.

From the stairs leading up to the balcony came the loud stutter of Garrus' custom-built sub machine gun, followed by the sight of a batarian mercenary falling to the ground from the staircase. Garrus worked his way up the stairs, blasting the Suns who's cover had been rendered useless by his angle. He couldn't see anyone else on the ground floor, and he turned his attention to the balcony where the grenade had been launched.

"Come out, you coward! You're out of pathetic child-soldiers!" Patriach bellowed, aiming a powerful biotic blast at the balcony railing he knew his assailant was behind. He sidestepped, looking for an angle from which his prey was vulnerable. He spied Garrus creeping up the stairs and threw another biotic attack at the balcony, creating what he hoped was a diversion. Grunt showed up right behind Garrus, backing him as he made his move up the stairs. When he arrived at the top, he found Anto. The batarian was holding a pistol to the head of a terrified human.

"Don't come any closer! Call off your friend down there, or I shoot him now!" shouted the batarian in a low voice that sounded like he had something he needed to swallow at the back of his throat. He jammed his pistol into the man's temple.

"Scratch! Are you okay?" asked Garrus, the expression on the turian's face changing fluidly between relief, concern, and anger. The man Scratch squinted and then attempted a smile, though his face was badly bruised and swollen.

"Archangel? I knew you weren't dead! You have to hurry-" he said excitedly before another jab from Anto cut him off.

"Shut up, human! I said call that krogan off! Once I know I'm not going to get shot in the back, I'll be willing to talk to you," said Anto.

"What makes you think we came here to talk?" asked Grunt. Anto blinked, but looked hard at Grunt and then Garrus in turn. Below, Patriarch backed up and lowered his weapon. From his new position, he could finally see who it was they were talking to.

"Ah, Anto. Something told me I'd find you here. I believe it may have been the corpse of my poor employee," growled Patriarch. Anto stepped sideways, better to keep track of both sides of the conversation.

"Fin was weak. He betrayed you quick enough, once he was given the right motivation," said Anto. Blue light pulsed faintly around Patriarch as his left hand formed a fist. "Don't try it, old man," warned Anto. Patriarch released his fist and the light dissipated. Anto looked surreptitiously at his time piece. "I guess you want to know why I betrayed Aria?" he asked.

"Not really interested in that, no," said Garrus. "Why don't you point that pistol at someone who can fight back?" he asked.

"I think it will stay right where it is. Too bad about Shepard, guess she wasn't as tough as everyone said," said Anto, needling. He glanced over toward the crates where Patriarch had moved the commander. "I should thank you, your team got rid of Santiago – that bastard had it coming, and not just from your washed up friend Massani. He screwed over too many of his own men," said Anto.

"Including you?" asked Garrus tersely. A hard knot of uncertainty formed in his stomach and he looked over toward where Anto had directed his gaze. He knew the blast hadn't killed Shepard from Patriarch's signal, but he had no idea what shape his commander was in. In the corner of his eye, Garrus saw something moving in the shadows by the wall on the first floor. He turned his head to get a better look just in time to see the human mercenary recruit who was half of the first search team lumber into the light. His face was contorted in pain and fear as he took his new pistol in his hands and aimed for the nearest target. He fired his shot and it hit Patriarch in the hump of muscle right behind his head. The old krogan howled in surprise and rage as he fell to the ground. Grunt rushed to the railing, aimed and shot the young mercenary directly in the chest. The shot knocked him off his feet and he landed on his back a few steps away from where he had been, his pistol skidded away from his grip.

Garrus watched as Grunt huffed, satisfied that the merc was out of commission. A flash of blue and white along his field of vision alerted him that Anto had leapt over the opposite railing in the confusion. He was heading at a dead run to the door at the other end of the building. Garrus and Grunt scrambled on the balcony to get a visual on the mercenary's position. Grunt roared in frustration and slammed his fist against a wall. Garrus moved quickly down the stairs, mentally kicking himself - he'd only looked away for a second! He got to the bottom of the stairs when he heard a shot fired from the ground floor, behind him. After the sound of the gun shot, he heard a loud thud and the crashing of empty crates as they hit the floor. Garrus turned, smiling as he realized what had happened. Shepard stood leaning against a chunk of debris, her right arm still outstretched and holding her heavy pistol.

"Don't worry, I got him," said Shepard, half-saluting Garrus with her gun hand. She was breathing slowly and deliberately as she clipped her pistol into its slot on her armor. Garrus moved over to the commander, concern etched on his rigid features. Shepard shook her head at him and waved him away with her good hand. "Don't Garrus, I'm fine. Patriarch – is he?" Grunt moved to Patriarch, turning the krogan from his prone position. A low groan issued from the old krogan's mouth as Grunt helped him into a standing position.

"Don't you know anything about krogans, Shepard? It takes more than one bullet to bring down one of us," said Patriarch. Grunt rumbled an agreement and dispensed an application of medi-gel to the old man.

"I thought you said you wanted to talk to him," said Garrus, jerking his head toward Anto's body. He helped the commander take a seat before he inspected her wound. A large piece of tile had lodged itself in her left shoulder. It stuck out through the weak point in her armor.

"He fired a grenade at us, Garrus. My patience has its limits," said Shepard through clenched teeth. On "limits", Garrus had wrenched the shrapnel out through Shepard's hardsuit. He deftly applied pressure to the wound and brought his omni-tool up to dispense a liberal amount of medi-gel to the site. Shepard was still dazed, and her head felt like someone was beating the back of her skull with a hammer, but the medi-gel's anesthetic effects made her feel marginally less closer to death. She looked over at the stairs and saw a beaten-looking human in grease-stained coveralls limping quickly toward them. Shepard was surprised at how animated the man appeared after having obviously endured brutal treatment at the hands of the Blue Suns.

"We've got to hurry!" he called frantically.

"Scratch, I presume?" asked Shepard. The man blinked the question away.

"Why? What's going on?" asked Garrus.

"Afterlife! They're going to be there any minute now! Alpha's got a gunship!" said Scratch breathlessly.

"What? Calm down. You mean, Anto wasn't -?" said Shepard.

"Him? No, he was second in command. Alpha is a salarian, but that's not his real name. I don't know his real name. He made me fix up that gunship. If we don't get down there now, they're gonna blast Afterlife all to hell! Aw, who am I kidding? It's probably already too late," said the mechanic, defeat thick in his voice.

"I think we would have heard a gunship, especially if it were firing on the level directly above us," said Grunt. Scratch looked sideways at the krogan, considering his statement. His face lit up in encouragement.

"If they haven't acted yet, that means we can still stop them!"

"What's with the 'we'? You're safe, Scratch. I aim to see you stay that way. We'll handle this," said Shepard. The man's shoulders hunched and he frowned for a moment before he turned to Shepard with a renewed vigor.

"Thanks for coming to get me, ma'am, Archangel, sir," said Scratch, turning to Shepard, Garrus, and Grunt in turn. "But with all due respect, I know where they are, if they're still there. I could disable the ship with two clips from a set of pliers. Come on, there's really no time to argue here." The man pulled out a pair of pliers from his coverall pocket and waved them at the group for emphasis. He had a look of determination on his face that Shepard more than recognized. If she didn't take him along, she knew he'd just make his way up there anyway – and most likely run into trouble again.

"Fine, come along then," said Shepard with a resigned sigh.

"We should leave him somewhere safe, Shepard, we can't -" Garrus objected.

"You heard him, he could be useful. I'm sure he knows that if he doesn't follow my orders, I'm locking him in the nearest storage closet," said Shepard with a pointed look at the mechanic. He nodded vigorously. "Trust me, Garrus," she added in a softer voice. Garrus nodded.

"Let's go, then. Grunt, take point until we get to the main level," Shepard directed. The group began to move out. Shepard tried and failed to bring her left arm up to a distance from where she could read her omni-tool screen. The medi-gel had numbed most of the pain, but to her frustration, her shoulder's range of motion was still greatly reduced. She cursed loudly, removed her tool and handed it to Scratch, telling him where to find the map.

So Alpha was a salarian. Shepard ran through her list of suspects in her mind, but she couldn't recall meeting any salarian Blue Suns, let alone any who were wily or ruthless enough to be capable of the things Alpha had done on Omega. Anto had been a tool, a means to an end for Alpha. He was the traitor, but he was not the new head of the Suns. Maybe she missed something when she was unconscious, she had no idea how long she was out. Her head was still throbbing with pain, making it difficult for her to concentrate. She hoped beyond hope that she and her squad could pull something off this time. She hoped that they were past the hardest part. Hope was one thing. As the group exited the elevator following Scratch's directions, Shepard felt herself absorbing some of the mechanic's energy and determination. She matched it with her own renewed sense of duty to the civilians that called Omega home. Alpha had no chance.

**A/N**: _Thanks for your continued support! _


	10. Plans and Injuries

Grunt stopped short in front of the group, holding up a fist and turning his armored head to better hear the faint echoes of footsteps moving rapidly in their direction. Behind him, Garrus cast a worried glance toward Shepard as she steadied herself with her good arm against the wall. Her face was pale and covered with a sheen of sweat. The bleeding from the wound in her shoulder had been stopped with medi-gel, but the outside of her hardsuit was still crusted with her dried blood. She was breathing heavily, but trying to quiet herself to better hear the sounds Grunt was straining to hear. Boots on the metal floor coming toward them, but not a large group. Only two or three by the pattern of sound. Scratch's eyes darted around nervously in his bruised and swollen face. He edged himself defensively behind Garrus, waiting for someone to make a move. Grunt grabbed his shotgun so quickly and silently that Shepard would have complimented him, had she not been distracted by her own painful situation.

Grunt's finger twitched near the trigger of his shotgun, but something he heard gave him pause. The footsteps were louder now, but they were becoming irregular – starting and stopping. Grunt's hearing was perfect. Indeed, every part of him was designed for top performance. His sharp ears detected the sound of slightly labored breathing along with the footsteps. His large gray eyes narrowed as he lowered his weapon slightly and motioned for the team to do the same. Garrus looked questioningly at the back of the krogan's head.

"Bloody hell, where are they?" Zaeed's hushed voice drifted from around the corner. Grunt's lip twitched mischievously. He fired a shot at the corner of the wall.

"Holy shit!" this time it was Jack who spoke. She popped her shaved head around the corner, assault rifle in hand. Seeing Grunt, Garrus, Shepard, and the bruised human stranger, her face relaxed for a moment before regaining its normal angry expression.

"You found us," said Grunt, collapsing his shotgun and clipping it to his back.

"When I asked EDI to send backup, I meant ten minutes ago," said Shepard. She smiled grimly, peering at Zaeed and Jack through a curtain of sweat-soaked hair. Jack took in the scene.

"What happened to you?" asked Jack, her eyes darting between Shepard and Scratch.

"Our raid on the Suns base didn't go exactly as planned," said Garrus. "But don't worry, we took care of the mercs who were down there."

"So you're aware of the hostage situation in Afterlife, then?" asked Zaeed. Their expressions told him that no, they were not. "They're after you, Shepard," Zaeed continued.

"Surprise, surprise," added Jack.

"From the top, if you don't mind," said Shepard.

The squad listened to Zaeed's story. He even included the bit where Miranda threatened disciplinary action for insubordination before they left the Normandy without her. There was a larger than normal crowd buzzing around the entrance to Afterlife, so naturally Zaeed and Jack had gone to check it out. The scene they found was bizarre, to say the least. The usually packed club was empty of patrons, filled instead with heavily armed Blue Suns mercenaries. Aria was being held in her private room at the top of the club, guarded by more Suns – there was no sign of her usual guard. An uppity salarian referring to himself as "Alpha" was addressing the crowd, stating that he wanted Commander Shepard alive by the end of the cycle, or there would be violence. Zaeed had noted that there was not much of a reaction from the crowd, most of whom turned silently from the scene once their curiosity was satisfied. That's when they followed Shepard's signal to their location.

"And here we are," said Zaeed.

"He's awfully confident that I'm alive after he tried his hardest to have me killed," said Shepard. Zaeed shrugged. Scratch tapped his foot and hummed nervously.

"So what are we doing?" asked Jack, impatient. Scratch looked at Jack like an antelope might look at a hyena. Cautiously, he explained about the gunship the Suns had: how he had fixed it, its location, and his plan to disable it. He didn't know Alpha's plans, he didn't even know Alpha's real name. Jack looked skeptically at the bruised, awkward mechanic and quizzically at Shepard with a look that asked, "Why are we taking him along?". Shepard shook her head dismissively and pushed her body into an upright position away from the wall.

"Well, we don't want to keep Alpha waiting," said Shepard. "Jack, Garrus and Scratch will head toward the gunship. Keep in radio contact and disable the damn thing, the quieter the better. Zaeed and Grunt, with me."

"Fuck you! I don't want to babysit the tech support," said Jack. Garrus hooked a claw around his pistol.

"Are we going to have a problem? I'd like to know now," he said. Shepard cocked an eyebrow at Jack, who rolled her eyes and slouched, resigned.

"Good, then we'll see you on the other side," said Shepard. Garrus, Scratch and Jack walked ahead, led by Scratch's rambling directions to the center of the station behind Afterlife, where the gunship was kept. Shepard ran various scenarios through her mind, trying to appear confident despite her lack of inspiration.

She led Grunt and Zaeed to a shady ledge from where they could see the comings and goings of Omega's public areas but not be seen. The group stood staring at the front of Afterlife and the steadily dissipating crowd. Five Blue Suns stood in front of the entrance, rather than the usual Elcor bouncer. Shepard's knuckles cracked as she gripped a railing, waiting to hear from the other team.

* * *

The center of Omega was not made to be easily maneuverable, for whatever reason. The hallways were cramped, cluttered and circular. Even more nauseating than the rest of Omega, thought Jack. The group had to move single-file down the narrow corridor. Scratch led the way, mumbling to himself, followed by Jack and Garrus. Nothing was labeled. Jack swore to herself that if Scratch did one more double take looking for the right door, she was going to punch him in the back of his head. He was counting something, steps or columns, Jack didn't really care which. She was still baffled as to why she was following the man in the first place.

"It's just a little further, this is all starting to look familiar again," said Scratch. Jack and Garrus said nothing. Scratch tittered nervously. He slowed his pace and stopped at a column distinguished with a small burn mark on its side. Scratch pointed at the mark and gave a thumbs up before making a turn into a yet darker and narrower corridor. The group actually had to turn to their sides now to get through. Sidestepping their way down the dark hall, Jack was glad to detect a slight breeze coming from ahead of their position. The breeze felt cool on her face and smelled less like rotting garbage than the air around them. A dim light shone from ahead, illuminating the squad's path more and more as they neared the end of the hallway. Scratch stopped and listened, hearing nothing he stepped forward into the opening. Jack and Garrus readied their weapons and followed him.

The hallway emptied onto a large, flat ledge at the edge of the center of Omega. The center was empty space surrounded by the cylindrical structure of the station, offering more than enough room in which to pilot a small craft. In the center of the ledge surrounded by an assortment of tools and parts stood the gunship. Scratch hustled over to the ship, limping slightly. He checked it over, opening and looking inside various compartments and doors. Garrus hurried over to try and assist the mechanic. Jack stood sullenly off to the side, her assault rifle slightly brushing her leg as she swung it casually.

"I've weakened it, but I need to get to the mass effect core to do any real damage," said Scratch, pulling up a handful of wires. He banged on a metal plate with the handle of his pliers. "It's stuck. I need to get in there to get to the core. I had wrench that should be able to do it, it's in a toolbox I kept in one of the closets down that hallway," he said, jerking his thumb at the hallway they had come from. He wiped sweat from his brow with a grease stained rag, his eyes on Garrus.

"I'll go with you. You shouldn't be alone out here, it's dangerous," said Garrus. Scratch's face contorted for a moment in a way Garrus didn't really know how to interpret.

"It's not far, I'd feel safer with you here," said Scratch. "I'll be right back, and if someone comes I'll run back this way fast as I can. I'm good at running." Jack looked over the mechanic suspiciously. He flinched away from her look.

"Whatever. Go then," said Jack. Scratch loped away down the hall. Jack rolled her eyes. "We're at the gunship, Shepard," she spoke into her radio. "Your mechanic is working on disabling it. There's no sign of any mercs down here so far."

"Copy that. We're moving in," Shepard's voice issued from her earpiece. Jack found a seat on a crate. Garrus walked around the ship, inspecting. He looked at the plate that Scratch had tapped.

"That's odd," he said. Jack ignored him. "That's not the cover to the mass effect core." Garrus heard the sound of footsteps coming from the hallway, and not just Scratch's. His hand went to his semi-automatic.

"Easy there, _Archangel_," said a sneering voice from behind him. Garrus turned, pointing his gun toward the sound. Jack was up, her assault rifle trained on the doorway. A salarian stepped out from the shadow of the hall. He wore the Suns colors, but did not carry any weapon that Garrus could see. More Suns followed him, all batarian, and with them they brought Scratch.

"Damn it, seriously? What happened to running, you stupid ass?" yelled Jack when she saw the mechanic escorted by the mercenaries. One of the Suns had his pistol jammed into Scratch's temple. The other five had their weapons pointed at Garrus and Jack, respectively.

"Weapons down, you two. Strange, I thought we'd only be dealing with Archangel here, but no matter," said the salarian.

"Let me guess. Alpha?" said Garrus. He lowered his weapon.

"Correct. Guns on the floor, that's right. Now kick them over," said Alpha. Jack wanted nothing more than to shoot the smug grin off the alien's face, but she didn't like her chances of facing down all six armed men at once. On the other hand, it didn't seem like they knew who she was, so maybe the cards were in her favor after all. She kicked her weapon away from her. One of the mercenaries pointed at the shotgun slung over her shoulder. She sighed and unclipped that as well, and kicked it over.

"I knew I should have shot him when I had the chance," said Jack, exasperatedly throwing her hands in the air. She looked over to Garrus. His face was stonier than usual, which was significant. She expected him to yell, or try and shoot something, but he simply unclipped and slid all his weapons toward the mercs. The merc holding Scratch released him. "Well done, Andre, Scratch, whatever. You can go now."

"Wait, what?" said Jack. No one blinked.

"Where is my daughter?" said Scratch. He sounded far less absent-minded than he had.

"Humans are so tiresome, but at least you're predictable," said Alpha. He circled the ship, closing the various maintenance covers that had been left open. "As soon as I am safely off the ground in this thing, my good men here are instructed to release her. I'm sure she'll be able to find her way home, Omega rat that she is." Scratch looked like he'd been slapped, but he said nothing. Alpha smirked and boarded the craft. It started up, humming. The propulsion systems created a wind in the space that smelled slightly like burning. The salarian's hands moved over the controls, making the craft slightly hover. "Excellent. When I take off, do what you will with these two. I don't want to see it, you know how violence makes my stomach turn."

"You said you only wanted the commander! You said you'd let Archangel go!" said Scratch.

"And so I would, but I don't think the Blue Suns have forgotten the headache he gave them not so long ago. They worked so hard for this, isn't it fair that they should get something in return?" said Alpha, his voice laced with false regret. The mercenaries grunted acknowledgment. Jack edged toward the mercenaries' flank as much as she dared. Slowly, while their attention was on Garrus and their leader.

"I should have known," Garrus said softly, to himself. Scratch hesitated by the doorway, his expression mixed, but mostly regretful. He mouthed "I'm sorry" to the turian, unable put voice behind it, and then he turned and walked down the hallway.

The craft took off vertically in a cloud of dust and fumes. Garrus could hear the salarian laughing to himself over the roar of the engine. Ahead, the mercenaries reformed their line, aiming their weapons. Garrus looked longingly at his guns which lay just out of his reach, but from the corner of his eye he saw Jack. For a split second, her whole body pulsed in bright blue light. One of the Suns looked over at the flash, but it was too late. With a yell, Jack released a biotic surge of energy that lifted all six men off their feet, giving Garrus the time and space he needed to reclaim his weapons and start firing. Jack ducked behind a crate and pulled a knife from her boot. She threw it and it hit one of the mercs square in his eye. With another biotic surge, she lifted the blinded batarian and slammed him hard on the ground. Jack could hear his spine break through his armor. Garrus emptied his thermal clip into the mercs facing him, then found cover behind a tool box and reloaded. None of the men he had shot down were moving to stand up again. Jack got up to inspect them. She found her weapons in the aftermath and equipped them. One of the Suns was mumbling incoherently – she put him out of his misery and turned to Garrus.

"No, I don't want to talk about it," he said.

"I wasn't asking," said Jack.

"Good. We'd better hurry," he replied. "Commander? Shepard? There's been a complication," said Garrus into his radio.

"No shit," came Zaeed's terse reply. In the background noise, Garrus could pick up the sound of the gunship.

_**A/N:** Sorry for being lazy. I hope you like this chapter, delayed as it was. More soon! _


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